In Common

04 August 1994; Bonnylee Galloway's flat, Loch Tay Regional Combined School; near Killin, Stirling, Scotland, UK
.
Murron huddles under a pile of quilts in front of Missus Galloway's fireplace definitely /not /thinking about the freshwater loch three stories below.
Rain patter-pats against the window glass.
Murron remembers the loch, shudders.
A rap at the door.
Missus Galloway jumps up from her chair, hustles across the flat.
Murron buries herself more deeply.
""Sorry I'm a tad late,"" says a male voice.
""Welcome inside, Mister Douglas,"" replies Missus Galloway.
""Thank you. She's over by the fire?""
""Aye. Be gentle with her or I'll find a hex what works on you.""
The man grunts.
Missus Galloway reclaims her chair, eyes locked on the man.
Murron watches him approach, too.
He's shorter than Mummy or Daddy or even Missus Galloway, with pale skin and early-sunset-reddish-gold hair and light blue eyes, wearing a black skin coat over a twilight-purple jumper and black trousers.
Her heart sinks; he's got no spots.
He sits on the footstool across the rug from her, balances a package wrapped in shiny white paper on his thigh, and greets in a deep, soft voice, «Hello, young lady.»
Murron's eyes fill with tears; she croaks, «Hello, uncle. Are you here to take me home?»
He bows his head. "Sorry, Miss. That's all the selkie-speak I know. I'm sorry I got your hopes up."
Murron sniffles, pulls the blankets tighter around herself, wipes her eyes with the back of her hand.
"Snack? Fresh from the sea." He peels back the edge of the paper, offers a piece of white flesh.
«Sea bass!» She reaches—freezes, looks to Missus Galloway.
"He and his gifts are safe, Murron," she assures. "He's no Faerie."
The man snorts a laugh. "That I'm certainly not."
"What are you?"
"A friend." He offers a crooked smile. "One who's not quite human, either."
Murron eyes him, but accepts the fish and bites into its edge.
The meat melts on her tongue.
She sighs happily, tears off another piece.
The man smiles, sits back. "You know, we have a lot in common."
Murron raises an eyebrow as she chews.
"See, when I was a little older than you, I had to make a choice: cut myself off from my family or die."
Murron forces down the last mouthful, blinks at him.
He takes back the wrapper, folds it neatly, tucks it in a pocket. "I /really wanted to keep living, so I did it."
"Was it a wrong thing?" she whispers.
"I don't think so. I found a different family eventually." He smiles a little. "Made friends, fell in love, built a home, had adventures ...." Shrugs. "It's been a pretty decent life so far."
"Are you sad ... mmm ... miss them?"
"Yea. Less than at first, but I still do." He leans forward. "There's a big difference between me and you, though. Your family'll visit you regular. Mine refuse to see me."
"Why do they hate you?"
"Murron—"
The man waves off Missus Galloway's scolding. "It's alright: a fair question."
Missus Galloway frowns.
"What I did was let a nasty old lady make me into a vampire," he explains.
Murron cocks her head. "Vampire?"
"It's a sort-of human who can't go out in the sunshine and has to drink blood to live, but who doesn't get sick and lives a long time."
"No sunshine."
"Aye."
Rain slaps the window.
Murron remembers the loch, shudders. "I can't swim now."
"And I can't 'swim' in the daylight like I used to. Something more we have in common."
"What's your name?"
"Donald Iain Douglas, scion of Malina Kearney, of the vampires of Glasgow." He smiles. "But you should call me 'Don'."
"You made me in your Song?"
He wrinkles his forehead. "What?"
"Made me family?"
"Why do you think that?"
"They say my family name is 'MacDonald' now."
Don blinks a few times, breaks into a grin and a laugh. "They made a mistake, then, if I understand how selkies're named. You should be 'MacBonnylee' for Missus Galloway since she's going to teach you while the magical folks work on getting you back to your parents. I'm more an older brother whose job's to protect you the rest of our lives."
"The rest of ...." Murron curls into herself.
"That's how brothers work, yea? For life."
Murron nods slowly.
"So you're stuck with me, for better or worse."
Murron peeks out. "You'll bring me fish?"
"Of course."
Murron's heart lifts a little and she smiles.