The holidays gave me a break from the day-to-day nonsense and trouble shooting I’m frequently asked to do. I can’t tell you how nice it was to spend time with my children, husband, family and friends. Aside from a short Christmas letter from a couple of Zombie friends, all was calm and bright.

That came to an end today when I got one of those “Juliette you gotta help me out” calls.

Jeff is a man in love. He is also a Vampire. Regular people might not recognize him as a Vampire, but this sort of hipster young guy has been a successful Vampire for almost 7 years now. If I didn’t know it I’d think he’d been a Vampire for 70 years. He is comfortable in his slightly cold skin and living the life of the “undead.”

Unfortunately, like I said, Jeff is in love. He reconnected recently with…

A short story:

When You Grow Old

“Who will take care of you when you get old?” I asked my brother’s caretaker Josh.

My brother Bob is 90 years old. A former screenwriter and movie producer, he lives in a modern glass and polished wood mansion on the Central Coast of California.

I’d been at Bob’s for six months.

“Your grandmother would have been 101 this year,” Bob told me. I was going to turn 101 this year, at the end of October. What Bob doesn’t know is that I am his sister Valentina. He doesn’t know I’m a vampire either. He thinks I’m a great niece who is the spitting image of his older sister who passed away in 1935.

I walked the beach in the evenings with Bob. He leaned my arm and told me about the cycles of the tide and the migration of the whales.

Arriving…

Red Dress, White Trim, A Dancing Ghost and the Quiet Musings of a Vampire Mom

She was a shining light in the forest, not a ghost who haunts but a ghost who dances to her own music.

I watched from my window as Mary danced in the woods. She wore not clothing of the 15^th century when she lived, but a red mini dress with white fur trim on the hem and bell shaped sleeves. A long Santa had was on her head with a fluffy white ball at the tip. Bells adorned the top of her white over-the-knee boots. Her red-brown hair was braided with gold ribbon. When you’re a ghost you can wear what you want, do what you want, dance and love when you want.

That is if you don’t let your own ghosts get in the way. That was Mary.

Had it been any other…

The Travelers

A Christmas Story from Juliette Kings

The night was falling on the travelers, Daniel and his son Tad and daughter Ada. They had to stop before the nightfall and freezing snowfalls. They were finally going home from the dreams of gold to the city where Daniel had found a job in his profession of typesetter and reporter. When his wife had passed on he followed his dream to the California gold fields taking his teenage children with him.

They came upon a cabin, the door boarded up from the outside, the windows shuttered. It looked deserted and like shelter for the night. Dan and his son pried the nails off of the boards, which secured the door and went into the two-room structure. Inside was a cozy room with a fireplace, comfortable chairs and a wall full of books. Dan sent Tad out to bring in firewood.

Ada…

we mourn deaths of hundreds of innocent children today

news reel lost it time
repeating, reminding, binding
us in this tragedy together

they were light in a dark night
they were day, gold in clay
all they wanted was to play

enjoy life, make smiles language of universe
who gave you the right to end their dream
who gave you the right to bend the fabric

and do the sin which even Satan disowns
he hates that we call you evil, as you are far above it
do you breath, is it blood in your food

human fingers in your soup,
when you sleep do you sleep on
skulls of mothers and their unborn children

do you live, is it life what you call
recall every moment when you were young
were you young or abomination appeared randomly

what is consciousness to you
yes mastermind, deathly blind,
merciless monster, why…

When I arrived home this afternoon my brother Andy (Andrew) had already arrived for the weekend. I love it when he visits. The days and night are full of music and unexpected fun. You see, out of my four older Vampire brothers, Andy is the most creative and kind of different. Andy and I are the same that way – we’re the most unique of the bunch. But don’t tell the others I said that.

Andy just came back from a tour – he is an opera singer, one of the best, but he was opening for a well known pop punk metal sort of band just for fun.

He and my 15 year old daughter Clara were sitting on the couch playing their guitars. It was a sweet scene. Andy looked up with a smile, his hazel eyes the color of a stormy sea, his long chestnut colored hair around…

Everyone loves Christmas stories, especially those of journeys and discovery and love. Over the next few weeks I’ll be sharing my Christmas stories with you – that is Vampire Christmas stories. Some of you might have read this one before but go ahead and pour a glass of wine, or a goblet of blood or even hot chocolate and enjoy this one again. xoxoxo

A Christmas Journey

People don’t know who or what we are. We’ve kept it that way for centuries, as stories and myths over ride any sense of reality in the minds of men.

In December of 1877 tragedy came into our lives. My best friend Isabelle fell under the spell of rogue Vampires and almost killed my brother Max’s best friend, who was the son of my parent’s closest regular human friends. You see, for those of you who are new here, we’re Vampires. As part…