Does he ever shut up? Indu groaned, covering her ears quickly. Little Andrew’s screams still peirced through her fingers, banging against eardrums.

That’s all he did most of the day. Scream and howl for something we didn’t know. At times it got so unbearable, Indu was forced to leave the room, at least. Other times, she’d just walk right out of the house. But this time, it was less deafening. His lack of sleep was getting to him. Indu was grateful of that.

As his voice died down to a soft murmur, Indu lifted her head from the computer desk. The little runt was only about a month old. He hadn’t even been at their home for that long. Yet he was already a nuisance in Indu’s eyes.

Than again, she never liked kids. She could cope with the occasional visit of the family friend’s rugrats, but that was it. Most of the time, Indu would isolate herself from such beings. She couldn’t stand how they constantly wanted to play without consideration of how others felt. Someone could be clearly upset and want to be left alone, but that wouldn’t stop a little runt from torturing that person. Indu knew that all to well.

Even with her loathing for small children, Indu found herself fairly protective over them. If she saw a man walking down the street with a little girl close at tail, she would get suspicous. That was a habit hard to break. After what her human father had done, how could she trust older men?

Indu growled at herself for daring to go back to that. Those memories she had locked away far in the back of her mind. They were memories people could use against her. Even though she had told many, they were a few she didn’t trust well enough to express such things. She didn’t hide them for her own safety though. Usually it was to protect her vampiric sister, as well as her human mother. They were hurt the worse. Scarred just enough for Indu to plan for their revenge under her own paws.

The teen stood and looked towards her mother. Andrew had just fallen asleep upon his mommy’s shoulder. Every time she saw him asleep, Indu could just imagine him older. In her mind she could see him at five, or seven…but no higher. That troubled her a bit. Hopefully it was only the fact that he was so little now.

Shrugging mentally, she turned back to the computer and shut the contraption down. Just then, the phone rang. Most likely it was someone for her mother or stepfather. She glanced at the clock…little after 9 PM. Who would call them this late? Plus, her stepfather was in bed already.

“Hey!…How’ve you been?…Oh, I’m fine. You make it there okay?”

Indu stood straight, her heart skipping a beat. She could hear his voice. She could hear that tone in her mother’s voice. That tone of relief. Indu knew right then who it was.

“Sure, here she is…Indu!”

A shiver ran down her stiffened spine. Gritting her teeth, Indu made her way into the living room towards her mother.

“It’s him.”

“I know…I could tell.”

“How?”

Indu took the phone and walked away. After a deep breath, she lifted the reciever to her ear. “Hello?”

“Hey!”

At the sound of his voice, she smiled and walked outside into the warm night air. She could feel the layer of ice as it melted.