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  NINA

  The Friendly Vampire

  Book 4

  Families

  Katrina Kahler & John Zakour

  Copyright © KC Global Enterprises Pty Ltd

  All Rights Reserved

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1: Attack of the Mummies

  Chapter 2: The Poo Bomb

  Chapter 3: The New Girl

  Chapter 4: A Worthy Opponent

  Chapter 5: Rubbing It In

  Chapter 6: Welcome Home

  Chapter 7: Granny Advice

  Chapter 8: Going Batty

  Chapter 9: The Meeting

  Chapter 10: What Does He Know?

  Chapter 11: Working Together

  Chapter 12: Is It a Trap

  Chapter 13: Settle Down Vamps

  Chapter 14: Mimics

  Chapter 15: A New Home

  Chapter 16: The Introduction

  BONUS SECTION

  Chapter 1: Attack of the Mummies

  I heard the banging at my door, but I tried to ignore it. After all, it was Sunday morning, my time to sleep in. My ‘me’ time. My relaxing time. Sadly, ignoring it didn’t make the knocking go away. In fact, the knocking intensified.

  “Miss Nina! Miss Nina!” I heard Mumford, our mummy butler’s voice from behind the door.

  I pulled my pillow over my head. Whatever his problem was, I figured it could wait.

  Mumford continued pounding on my door. "Ms. Nina, I understand you like your rest. I am assuming you've pulled your pillow over your head. But this is important. There are many, many mummies at the door and they want to see you!" Mumford yelled.

  I sighed. I had hoped that when I heard his knocking earlier, I was dreaming. Maybe I was still dreaming? I poked myself. I felt it. Nope, this was not a dream or a nightmare. “Mumford, can’t Mom handle this?” I groaned. “Mummies are scared to death of her.”

  “True,” Mumford acknowledged. “However, your mother and father are still at the North Pole. They are not due back until later today. That’s possibly why the mummies feel comfortable about being here right now. I have activated the Gnome Defense System.”

  “And?” I asked.

  “I believe the gnomes are outnumbered, and any skirmish will just make the situation worse. I feel you can calm the mummies because they respect and fear you.”

  I slipped out of bed, tossed on a red robe, and put on my bunny slippers. I changed my mind and decided to skip the bunny slippers. They were super cute, but they certainly didn’t instill fear.

  “What kind of mummies are they?” I asked Mumford.

  “Dark mummies. They seem far more unreasonable than normal,” he answered.

  “Well, that’s not good,” I sighed, opening up the door.

  “No, no it’s not,” Mumford agreed. “I suggest you bring them some cotton candy. They love cotton candy. It makes them more mellow.”

  Pulling out the pockets from my robe, I noted, “Gee, I am fresh out of cotton candy.”

  “They like roasted marshmallows also!” Mumford offered.

  “Once again, I’m out. I don’t carry any in my pockets...they just melt,” I said, walking down the stairs.

  Strutting toward the front door, I found our yard gnome, ‘Gomer’ pushing the door shut.

  “Oh, Miss Nina, I am so glad you are here!” Gomer said. “This is a very nasty crowd. I suggest you wait for backup.”

  “I’m here!” my brother Frank said as he walked down the staircase. He stumbled down the last few steps and grabbed a baseball bat. “I’ve got your back, sis!”

  Gomer forced his back against the door. “Mr. Frank! Nothing against your raw power, but I thought that perhaps you should wait for your mother to arrive. I swear that woman can scare death itself.”

  Shaking my head, I told Gomer, “Nah, these guys are interrupting my Sunday morning. I’ll handle em!” Pointing to the door, I ordered Gomer, “Open it!”

  “Are you sure?” Gomer asked, looking up at me.

  “Never more sure,” I replied.

  Gomer pushed against the door a little harder. The mummies on the other side started to pound and moan at the door. My head started to pound as well, but more out of anger than fear. “Let them in before they upset the neighbors!” I ordered.

  Gomer moved to the side. The double doors to the house burst wide open. A whole bunch of angry looking, red-eyed, dark mummies stood in the doorway. At first, they charged in angrily, fired up by something.

  Putting my hands on my hips and leaning into them I hissed, “What do you want?”

  The mummies stopped immediately. Many of them even backed away. A few of them shuddered.

  “Yikes,” I heard one of them mumble.

  “She certainly is her mother’s daughter,” another groaned.

  “This might not have been our best idea!” another exclaimed.

  “I need cotton candy,” one more mummy grumbled.

  Many others wailed in agreement.

  The lead mummy turned his head towards the others and said, “We’ve come this far, we can’t back down now!”

  “Guys, I can hear you,” I told them.

  “I can, too,” Frank said, hitting the baseball bat threateningly against the palm of his hand.

  “Ah, hi,” the lead mummy said to me with a little wave.

  I let my fangs out. I also let my claws pop. Being half vampire and half weretiger did have its advantages when it came to looking scary.

  “What do you guys want?” I demanded.

  “Ah, hi,” the lead mummy repeated.

  Sniffing the air, I could sense their fear. Kind of a weird feeling knowing that an angry mass of dark mummies feared you. I kind of liked it.

  “You said that already!” I said, tapping my foot impatiently. I kind of wished I’d worn the bunny slippers because it would have been extra cool, scaring them while in pink slippers.

  “Tell her,” a bigger mummy behind the lead mummy said, shoving him a bit.

  “She frightens me,” the lead mummy said.

  The bigger mummy pushed forward towards me. “Well, I’m not scared of her!”

  The mummy reached for me with a bandaged arm. I swatted the arm away with my claws. The mummy withdrew his arm. He started to rub it. “Now that hurt!” he growled.

  “Stand down!” I ordered.

  “You ain’t the boss of me!” the mummy yelled, swinging his non-injured arm at me.

  I caught his arm before it could hit me. Squeezing hard, I pushed his arm down to his side. I head-butted him, driving him to the ground.

  “Ouch,” the mummy cried from the floor. “You have a hard head!”

  Two other braver mummies ran into the house, grabbing my arms.

  “We will not tolerate any more of this! We are ready for you now!” one of them shouted.

  “Want me to get rid of them, sis?” Frank asked.

  “Nah, I got it!” I said. Lifting my arms up, I clanked the two mummies into each other. Releasing my arms, the mummies fell to the ground.

  They tried to work their way back up to a standing position, but their stiffly wrapped arms and legs couldn’t do it.

  “Stay down until we figure this out!” I told them.

  “Man, that did not work out the way I planned,” one of the downed mummies complain
ed.

  “Yeah, that definitely went better in my head,” the second mummy said from the ground.

  “We could crawl over and bite her on the feet!” the first fallen mummy suggested.

  “That would just make me really mad!” I told both the mummies.

  “Forget that suggestion!” The mummy skulked back down.

  Figuring that the lead mummy was smart enough not to attack me, I pointed to him. He might be willing to tell me what was going on. “Okay, why are you mummies here?” I demanded.

  “Ah, you know,” the lead mummy mumbled.

  “No…no I don’t,” I said.

  For the next minute or two, we all stood there just looking at each other. I might have had more awkward moments, but I couldn't recall them. Interestingly, the mummies somehow became braver. They all crept closer to me; actually crowding their way into the house. For the first time, I felt a tinge of fear. I used that fear to fire me up. I felt my body generating heat.

  “What do you want?” I frowned.

  “We want you to stop bothering and attacking us!” the lead mummy said.

  “All of you mummies have been eating way too much cotton candy! It’s rotting your already dead brains!” I told them.

  “Yeah!” Frank added.

  “Our brains are preserved, not dead,” the lead mummy corrected. “And we haven’t had any cotton candy since you came and smashed our machine last night. We’re very upset.”

  Aunt Mika stumbled out of her room. She noticed the mass of mummies in the house. “Okay, what’s going on here?” she asked.

  “I’m really not sure,” I said.

  “These mummies believe Nina smashed their cotton candy machine!” Frank told her.

  The lead mummy crossed his arms and nodded. “That is true. And she tore the bandages off a bunch of us, exposing us to light. When you are thousands of years old, light is bad for you!”

  “Yeah, we tend to turn to dust!” another mummy mumbled.

  “Yeah!” a few others agreed, waving their fists.

  “Look, guys, I haven’t done any of those things!” I insisted. “I have no reason to fight the dark mummies. I’m in middle school. I have more than enough problems of my own without looking for fights.”

  “We want to believe you, but your words and our eyes don’t match. Somebody who moved like a blur attacked us.”

  “Wait…so you couldn’t see your attacker?” I asked.

  “No, they moved too fast for human or mummy eyes, hence the reason we thought it was a vampire,” the lead mummy told me.

  “Then why do you think it was me?” I asked.

  "Because the blur said…Ha-ha, you can never stop me, you stupid, smelly, silly mummies. I, Nina, am too much for you!'" the mummy explained, badly mimicking my voice for the last part.

  “One, I don’t sound like that. And two, why would I tell you I’m attacking you if you couldn’t see me.”

  “Obviously, you love to taunt,” the lead mummy said.

  “Or you’re a dummy,” another mummy said.

  “Or both,” a different mummy offered.

  Mumford lumbered up to the mummies. "Look, friends, I know Nina well. Believe me, she is far too smart to tell you she is attacking you.”

  "You work for her, of course, you'd take her side!" one of the mummies demanded.

  “Yeah!” the crowd grumbled.

  “Look, mummies, I did not attack you. I did not destroy your cotton candy machine. But if you don’t get out of here pronto, I will lose my temper. And when I do...I will not be responsible for what I do to you all!” I let a wave of heat fly from my body.

  “We still have you outnumbered by a lot!” another mummy from the crowd shouted.

  “Yeah, I don't mind those odds.” I showed my fangs and claws. “Like you said, I can move really fast.”

  “And my friend, Ms. Anna is coming for breakfast,” Aunt Mika added. “You’ve heard of her, I’m sure....”

  The mummies turned and started talking amongst themselves. I couldn’t understand the language. I assumed it was an ancient tongue.

  “Can you understand what they’re saying?” I asked Mumford.

  “Of course! It is Coptic, the language of our ancestors.”

  “So, what are they saying?” I asked him.

  “Not nice things at all! As a gentleman, I do not like to repeat such words.”

  “Just summarize,” Aunt Mika said.

  "Well, they are quite angry at you, Miss Nina. They want to let their anger out on you even though many of them feel they will lose this fight. A lot of them still think they can win, as they have you outnumbered. Plus, some of them don't believe Ms. Anna is really going to show up."

  A shimmering ball of energy appeared next to us. Ms. Anna stepped out of that ball, her hands on fire.

  “I think we can assure them that I am here!” Ms. Anna said.

  The mummies all gasped.

  Ms. Anna looked at the lead mummy. “What’s going on, Sid?”

  “Oh hi, Anna,” he said with a wave. “We have no fight with you.”

  Ms. Anna shook her head. “These are my students and my friends. If you have a problem with them, then I have a problem with you.”

  “We believe Nina attacked us!” Sid insisted.

  Ms. Anna shook her head. “I believe Nina. She has no reason to lie.”

  “Maybe she’s afraid of the might of the mummies?” Sid suggested.

  Ms. Anna pointed to me. “Does she look afraid?”

  Sid and the others sized me up. “Maybe she masks it well.”

  “Trust me; I’m not masking anything. I am holding back a burst of heat just to give you mummies a chance to do the right thing!” I told them.

  Ms. Anna lifted her hands; they were burning with flames. “I’m not bragging, but I’m really good at melting things too.” She smiled. “I once turned an old boyfriend’s car to melted metal.”

  A couple of the mummies nodded. "Yeah, I remember that," one of them said. "It was kind of awesome."

  “Alrighty then,” Sid said slowly. “Say we give you girls the benefit of the doubt and don’t attack you. But you need to tell me…who is attacking us?”

  “I don’t know,” Ms. Anna said.

  “Me neither,” I said. “But I will find out. I don’t like people setting me up!”

  “It might not have been a person. In fact, it most likely wasn't a person," one of the mummies told me.

  “Good point,” I admitted. “But I will get to the bottom of this.” I made a fist. “You can count on me.”

  The mummies all looked at each other, talking to each other in their strange language.

  “What are they saying?” I asked Mumford.

  He stood with his hand to his ear. “Uh... they’re talking about the weather.”

  “Seriously?" I asked.

  Mumford nodded. “Seriously. They are afraid it will rain before they get back to the cover of their amusement park. Mummies hate rain, especially the dark mummies. They are also angry about the loss of their cotton candy machine. They love that stuff.”

  Turning to Anna and Aunt Mika, I said. “Do you think you two could find them a new cotton candy making machine?”

  “Of course,” Anna said.

  “Right, you’re a wizard,” I nodded.

  Anna smiled. “And a dance teacher. When you throw a lot of dance concerts, you make a lot of connections.” She pulled out her phone and typed a text. Looking at her phone, she smiled. “I will have a new cotton candy machine to them by the end of the day.”

  Turning back to the mummies, I asked, “You guys hear that?”

  The lead mummy pointed to the wrappings around his ears. “Nah, our heads are wrapped, which makes it hard to hear anything unless we are really paying attention, and we don’t pay attention a lot.”

  “We will get you a new cotton candy machine,” I told him loudly.

  “Really? That’s great!” the mummy said, giving me a mostly toothless grin
.

  Another mummy leaned into the lead mummy and whispered something.

  “Hmmm, yes good point,” the lead mummy said.

  “What’s a good point?” I asked.

  “My aide, Cleo wants to know why you would give us a cotton candy machine if you didn’t destroy our old one,” the leader said.

  “Because I’m a nice girl,” I insisted, smiling.

  The mummies all looked at me. The leader pointed at me and noted, “You’re a vampire and a girl?”

  “Well, I’m a vampire-weretiger, and I was using the word ‘girl’ generically.”

  The mummies turned and talked among themselves. They turned back to me. “We will allow it.”

  “I’m so relieved,” I told him. Holding out my hand, I said, “Do we have a deal?”

  The mummy wrapped his wrapped hand around my hand, engulfing it. He squeezed. “Deal,” he said. Looking me in the eyes, he continued to squeeze.

  “Are you trying to test my grip?” I asked.

  “Maybe,” he said. “My mummy taught me that a firm grip is a sign of telling the truth.”

  I applied pressure to his hand. He dropped to a knee and grimaced. “Okay, that is a firm grip. You must be telling the truth…”

  I released his hand. “Good, now you guys get out of my house!

  He shook his hand as if in pain. “Your grip is impressive, and I appreciate that. Therefore, we will trust you.”

  “Our house,” Frank corrected me. “We all live here.”

  “Yeah, our house,” I nodded.

  I watched the mummies turn around. They dropped their heads and started to move out the door. Closing the door behind them, I said, “Boy, I have a weird life!” I turned to Aunt Mika, Frank, Anna, Mumford, and Gomer, “But great family and friends!”

  Speaking of which, my best friend, Ruby appeared in the doorway carrying a big box of donuts. “I saw you had visitors,” she said. “I figured you could use these.”

  Putting my arm around Ruby, I said, “You know me so well!”

  “Why were the mummies so angry at you?” Ruby asked.

  “Apparently, somebody or something disguised as me has been harassing those mummies,” I told her.

  “Hmmm,” Ruby said, rubbing her chin. She pulled out her phone and started searching. "I'm searching the supernatural web now. I have some theories. There are a lot of doppelgangers and beings with mimic powers."