The Twins

The Twins
“You know, Mom lets us have extra desserts on Fridays,” the little blond boy whined while exchanging a devilish glance with his twin brother.
“Yea-aaahh! And so does Jamie when she baby-sits us! You should know, she’s your girlfriend.” The twin in the blue shirt chimed in a sing song voice. Their babysitter took a deep breath and ran a hand through his short black hair.
“Well, your mother and Jamie are not here now, are they? I’m in charge, and your mother never mentioned extra dessert to me. Ask her yourselves tomorrow and she’ll probably give you a rain check.” Devon explained through gritted teeth as he listened the two twins try to get their way for the thousandth time that evening. He glanced at his watch, and then out the window noticing as darkness began to fall. “Tim and Tom, cut the crap. Your parents left specific directions on the table. Jamie explained pretty much everything to me a second time,” Devon crossed his arms and continued, “Neither one of them talked about extra desserts. Besides it’s time for you two to get your pajamas on.” The twins scowled at Devon as they sized him up for yet another argument. He gritted his teeth and wondered how he let his girlfriend and the Marstons talk him into being the substitute sitter. A headache had taken up residence in his skull about 10 minutes after the Marstons left him to deal with the “Demon Twins,” and apparently had decided to invite it’s older cousin Mr. Migraine for a wild kegger. Tom noticed him flinch in pain from his headache and poked his brother in the ribs as a signal. Tim smiled and nodded.
“I DON’T WANNA GET PAJAMAS!!! I HATE BEDTIME!!!!! IT’S NOT EVEN DARK OUT!” was screamed at the top of Tim’s lungs. Tom squealed with laughter while high-fiveing Tim both missing Devon’s dark eyes flash red. As he hissed in a combination of rage and pain from his headache Devon managed say,
“Boys… I do not want to hear this. I WILL call your parents. They WILL come back. I guarantee they will not be happy with this.” As usual threats had no bearing on the Terrible Twins. Tom smiled sweetly, his angelic blue eyes sparkled as he spoke to Devon.
“Where is Jamie anyway? You’re her boyfriend isn’t she supposed to only take time off to Do you?”
“Yeah, what’s wrong with that.. girlfriends don’t go off and leave their boyfriends to babysit unless they’re kissing other guys- or GIRLS!” Tim added. The twins laughed hysterically after bating their sitter like that. Devon’s face twitch a little as he struggled for control of his anger. He bent down and put his hands on his knees so he was at eye level with the twins; as they saw the dark expression on his face Tim and Tom exchanged a look, knowing they had gone too far.
“Look kiddies,” he started off vehemently, "Jamie’s sorry she couldn’t come and be here tonight, but she has permanent plans on full moons. Your parents messed up the date of this engagement, so until about a week ago both Jamie as well as Mommie and Daddie dearest thought she would be able to look after you two brats. But what happens? Oops. They realize their mistake.” Devon paused and put a hand on each boy’s shoulder, drawing them closer to his face, “Jamie was really upset. Apparently she is rather fond of this job. Your parents have met me a couple of times when I helped Jamie out at those little parties they throw for you two. They suggested she ask me. Since all of her other friends were busy tonight and I wasn’t, well, you know what happened. I’m stuck helping her out by putting up with You Two.” He spat out the last two words as if they burned his tong. “I know perfectly well you can behave. You are fine for Jamie. Maybe because you know to stay on her good side. I highly recommend you stay on my good side as well. Capeash?” The speech ended with Devon’s pale face inches away from the faces of the twins. Tom gulped and Tim was visibly nervous.
“O-ok. We’ll go up and get our pajamas on now… We’ll even be good for the evening. Really” Tim stammered. Something about being that close to Devon made him nervous. Devon smiled at the boys’ apparent unease. A little fear could be a good tool to have for the rest of the night.
“That’s good to hear. I think we just had a rough start, but will end up getting along quite well for the rest of the evening.” He explained with a dry laugh as he stood back up to his full height and released the boys. They immediately turned around and ran for the stairs to the sanctuary of their room. Devon smiled to himself as he washed the dinner dishes in the kitchen. His exquisite hearing allowed him to pick up the conversation of the boys from their bedroom upstairs.
***

Tim flopped down onto his bed in the lower bunk. “WOW! Did you SEE his teeth when he smiled?!” Tom nodded, still looking shaken. “They were pointy and huge!” He put his hands up to his mouth with index fingers pointing down as a demonstration.
“I know Tim… I saw them too,” Tom spoke quietly while putting on his favorite rocket ship pajamas. “He was just as close to me. Just as freak-show looking, and just as scary. His eyes, they look too dark to be real.” Tim rolled his eyes as he sat up on his bed and started searching for his favorite dinosaur pajamas.
“Don’t try and scare yourself. Lots of people have dark eyes.” Tim pulled his head through the neck of the pajama top, “He’s just some guy-”
“Yeah, yeah, you’re right.” Tom cut his brother off, not wanting to hear more explanations. “Get ready, and let’s go downstairs. Maybe Devon’ll be cool enough to let us watch Tales from the Crypt like Jamie always does!” Both boys brightened up at the thought of watching their favorite parentally forbidden television show. They raced out of their room with Tom in the lead. Partway down the stairs Tim bumped into his brother who was frozen in one place looking over the side of the banister at the scene in the living room. Tom’s mouth was wide open in astonishment, “Holy…”
“Dude- why did you stop?” whined Tim. “I wanna go watch-”
“SHUT UP And LOOK at that” hissed Tom, “Devon - in the living room - look what he’s got!” Tim gasped.
“WOW! That’s a sword!”
“Actually no, it’s just a dagger,” Devon replied from the couch without looking up from his task of sharpening said dagger. “And I have a distinct feeling I am going to have to use it tonight.” He smiled, flashing a toothy grin up at the not so hidden boys, “But what’s a day without a little fun, eh guys? Come on down and get a closer look.” The twins stumbled down the carpeted stairs and stopped in front of the couch, admiring the blade their babysitter held in his hands.
“Woah,” Tom said in admiration, “That is SO cool…” Tim wrinkled his nose and added,
“Why didn’t you tell us you were this cool in the first place?” Devon laughed and put the dagger in its sheath he now wore hanging from his belt. He tossed Tim’s hair and motioned for the boys to have a seat on the rug in front of him. “But why do you have it here?” Tim asked.
“Want to hear the story? It’s a little scary, but your parents agreed I could tell you tonight since Jamie is out, and they believe you are ready for it.” Tim and Tom nodded vigorously as they chimed in
“YEAH YEAH!! Tell us a Story, Devon!” He smiled and shrugged glad his headaches had vanished while the boys changed and he got the house ready for the night.
“All right guys. You asked for it. I’m going to be blunt, first of all-” Tom interrupted
“What’s blunt, isn’t that some drug thing? Drugs are bad.” Devon sighed, not knowing if the boys were starting in again on their evil children act or if it was a legitimate question. Deciding on the latter he answered,
“Blunt means to the point, not holding back, coming right out with what you mean to say not necessarily being all nice and sugarcoating the facts.” Tom nodded.
“Ok.” They said in unison. Relieved the twins were going to listen he continued.
“As I was saying. You two boys CAN be great kids.” The twins sat on the floor beaming as children do when complemented. “Unfortunately you also can be terrible. Your parents never believed this until they started wanting to go out. Then, when the only person who would sit for you was Jamie, well, they started to look closer. They realized that you two were spoiled rotten.” The boys looked at each other, frowning knowing their act was up. “However, your antics are not the only reason people don’t want to stay here with you guys anymore.” A puzzled expression was visible on both faces. “You live out in the woods. A lot of people don’t like being this far from the rest of the world. Personally, I do not mind. Also, lots of people have disappeared in those woods. In fact, there is something unnatural out there which hunts after dark.” The boys’ eyes grew wide as they absorbed everything Devon said. “Supposedly this thing really hates people who are mean, or spoiled, or greedy. That’s why lots of the people who disappear are rich, snobby hikers from the city. Keeping this in mind about The Creature, your parents try and protect you two especially well now. Jamie knows about it, but since she is special it stays away when she is over. The Creature never attacks when your parents are home either. I am not sure why. All I know is that I am not special like Jamie, your parents are not home right now, and it is getting dark. I’m ready, and since it’s part of the job I can hope you two are ready to listen and do everything I say now to stay safe.” Devon finished.
The boys remained sitting on the rug for a few moments as the story sank in. “Heyyyyy” Tim whined, “That’s not true at all! Your just trying to scare us because we were bad.” Tom cocked his head to the side then nodded in agreement with his more practical brother. “If it were true then why didn’t Mom and Dad tell us before?” Tim challenged.
“Well, I don’t know. They didn’t want to scare you guys.” Devon rolled his eyes. “Besides you were doing just fine when Jamie was here. This was unexpected, and your parents had to go to that convention tonight. They hope nothing will happen, for all I know nothing will happen. I don’t usually deal with Creatures.” He pointed at the locks on the windows and the security system, “If your parents didn’t believe, then why the strong locks on the windows and the security system. You live in the woods here.” Letting the boys think that one over, Devon stretched and turned on the TV. “Now I’m going to relax a bit and if you want, feel free to watch some of the boob tube with me.” The offer of television distracted the twins from the oncoming argument and made them forget entirely about the whole story.
At 10:00 Devon turned the TV off. The boys looked slightly miffed at the disappearance of the Crypt Keeper and Tom protested. “Aww COME ON” He whined, “One more episode? Please??? Weren’t we good?” Devon shook his head at the two angles.
“Sorry guys. It’s time for bed.” The finality in their babysitter’s voice made the two twins decide to at least appear to give in. They sighed and stomped upstairs to their room with Devon following close behind to tuck them, as well as to make sure the two boys ended up in their rooms ready to sleep. “Remember boys, be good. Give me an easy night and no matter what do as I tell you. I don’t won’t to deal with this Creature thing…” He reminded them as he left their room after tucking them in.
***

Tim and Tom had plans other than to go right to sleep. When Tom heard Devon walk back down the stairs and turn on the television he whispered to his brother, “Hey Tim- do you believe any of what he told us?”
“No way! I bet he was just trying to scare us into being good.” Tim said as he grinned devilishly, “Or if he really believes, I think WE should give him his Creature!” Tom hesitated in the dark before answering.
“Well, he seemed pretty serious at that point, and he has that dagger. That’s real.” Tim, ever the skeptic, rolled his eyes and gave his brother the raspberry.
“He was probably just trying to impress us and trick us into being good.” Tim climbed down from the upper bunk. “Besides, whose going to get hurt if we play a little trick.” He added with a giggle. Tom knew he should give in to his brother because once he got that tone in his voice there would be no convincing him otherwise.
“Well I guess so, Tim. What do you wanna do?” His brother whispered the ultimate plan in his ear, and Tom started to grin at the possibility of scaring or at least shaking up their tough babysitter a bit.
***

Devon stood with one hand on his dagger in front of the large bay window which offered the best view of the forest next to the house when Tom came screaming down the stairs. “DEVON! DEVOOOOONNNNNN!! IthinkIheardsomethingintheroomand-“
“Woah boy, Slow down… Take a couple deep breaths and tell me what’s wrong.” He interrupted the boy who was almost hyperventilating and on the verge of tears.
“Well, Tim and I were talking before we fell asleep like we always do, when we heard this tapping on the window.” Tom paused and sniffled a minute, “And Tim said it was nothing and he was going to prove it, so he went over to the window and opened it, and and and…”
“You OPENED a WINDOW?! I Told you boys NOT to do that!” Devon exploded in frustration. “And now Tim’s gone, isn’t he?” The boy nodded. Devon shook his head and sighed, “Well, go get some sneakers on. You’ll have to come looking for him with me. I’m sure he hasn’t gotten far with the Creature – yet.” Tom’s eyes widened in shock.
“Go with you? I don’t want to see the Creature.” He sniffled. “I’m scared.” Devon shrugged.
“Well, would you rather I go off and leave you here all alone?” The twin gulped and shook his head. “I thought as much. Get your sneakers on while I run upstairs and secure your room.” Devon took the stairs three at a time much to the boy’s great astonishment. Tom had never seen anyone move so quickly in his life. He began to wonder what would happen when it turned out this was all a joke.
“Gee, I hope Tim really is ok.” Tom muttered to himself about his brother who had climbed out the window to go scare their babysitter. He finished tying his sneakers on as Devon appeared beside him again.
“Ok kid. Let’s rock and roll. I couldn’t find your brother anywhere, but I did see a green light out there. It wasn’t too far off. We can make it to the Creature and get your brother in a few minutes.” Devon said with grim determination. “Here- have a flashlight” He said as he tossed a mini Mag Light towards the boy. Tom caught the light and turned it on.
“Don’t you need a light too, Devon?” Tom said in a worried voice. Devon snorted and started laughing evilly.
“Trust me, I’m good.” He grinned showing off teeth which appeared to be much longer and sharper than Tom remembered, “I may not be Jamie, but I’m a little better off at this stuff than most people.” Tom was a bit puzzled at this statement, but shook it off and followed Devon out the door.
***

The fall night was crisp and Tim found it surprisingly light from the full moon as he sat in the bushes by the side of the house, waiting for Devon and his brother so he could spring out at them and surprise them. He heard the front door slam and the sound of his brother asking Devon a question followed by their walking around the opposite side of the house. Tim sighed. Tom was supposed to lead Devon around this way first. Sitting in the shadows cast by the moon was getting boring, and although he didn’t want to admit it, a little creepy. Tim stood up, causing the rhododendron bush he was hiding behind to shake, in hopes it would attract everyone’s attention. The other bushes near the rhododendron started shaking as soon as the rodo stopped. Tim looked over to his left into the darkness. “What the…” He whispered as it looked like a tail or a tentacle disappeared into the inky shadow of the house. “Must be the shadows playing tricks on me.” Even with that rationalization goose bumps popped out all over Tim’s body as he stared intently into the shadow, wishing he had remembered to grab the green flashlight from his room that he had planned to bring with him.
A loud hissing that turned into a snarl caused a chill to run down his spine, causing Tim to decide to modify his Devon scaring plan. He snuck out of the bushes and started towards the back of the house where his brother and Devon would be. Seeing his brother’s outline holding the mini-maglight splitting the shadow cast by the house, Tim crept up behind him. “BOO!” He yelled, laughing. Tom jumped and looked back at his brother with wide eyes.
“Tim… How did you get back here so fast?” His brother looked impressed. Tim smiled.
“I’m just that good!” He said with a laugh. “Now let’s run in and lock Devon out!” Both boys giggled and ran inside the house locking the door behind them. As they waited for Devon to start pounding on the door to be let in, Tim decided to ask his brother why he changed the plan.
“Hey Tom, why did you and Devon go around the other side of the house? I thought you were going to lead him right to the bushes where I was waiting?” Tom’s eyes widened in shock, “I mean, it ended up cool and all- but I didn’t really do anything other than sit behind a rhododendron bush.” Tim continued, “Why are you looking at me like that?” Tom’s mouth opened and closed like a fish a couple times as he fought to get the words to come out.
“Tim, Devon and I were following you… The green flashlight you had, well we followed it around the other side of the house. I thought you changed the plans and wanted us to do that.” Tom’s voice trailed off as he sat thinking about everything for a minute. Looking his twin brother in the eyes he asked, “Umm Tim, where’s the flashlight that you used to lead us?” A note of panic crept into his voice as Tim’s eyes widened while he held out his open and empty hands. “STOP SCAREING ME! WHERE’S THE FLASHLIGHT?!”
“I.. I… forgot it. I never had the thing. I swear!” The boys exchanged frightened looks and ran up to their bedroom to look for the flashlight. When they found it sitting on the bedside table both boys started shaking. “Really, I didn’t have it! Do you believe me now?” Tim squeaked in fear.
A scream echoed from the woods, quickly followed by a predatory roar. Both boys jumped and clung to each other in fear. “I think we made a really really big mistake.” Tom whimpered as he and his brother hid under the blankets of his bed. “I really hope Mom and Dad get home soon.”
***

Epilogue
The Marstons looked at each other after hearing their sons’ story. “Well, at least the kids are all right.” Mr. Marston said. His wife shot daggers from her eyes in his direction.
“How do you suggest we tell Jamie about Devon? Especially during this part of the lunar cycle? I don’t want her unloading her wrath towards me!” She crossed her arms and continued glairing at her husband. Men have no compassion she thought to herself. He adopted a hangdog expression and put a friendly arm around her shoulders.
“I guess we’ll just have to tell her and hope for the best.” He said with a sigh, “Besides, I never thought it was smart for a Lupine to love a Kindred.” His wife rolled her eyes, knowing that some men would never understand the workings of love, but decided to let it slide for now.
“Well, we need to give the current protection charm a boost now.” She looked at her husband with a smile, “Never know what Creatures may come now that this one got a Kindred.” He nodded at her and summoned his energy. Both husband and wife joined hands in the pale light of the autumn full moon and prepared to cast their spell.