Dead On Arrival (Black Siblings)

Karma was sitting in the Family Room, dressed in a black longsleeve shirt and black cacki pants, her eyes on a small circle next to hers that she hadn't really paid much attention to before. She'd figured it had been a burn, or a coffee stain. But the more she looked at it, the more it looked like a person.

A family member.

And looking at it, with her head cocked to the side...

"Do I have a sibling?" She asked the portraits, who had, up until this point, been talking to each other.

"What makes you say that?" asked Grandmother from the portrait of her in the family room.

"This mark... on the tree..."

"Your mother burnt that picture out before it even formed."

Karma said nothing, looking at it. She frowned at it before getting up at the sound of a knock to the door.

"I'll be back in a sec." She told the portraits before going to open the door.

"Oh. Hello. Can I help you?"

Zess just learned of his sister's whereabouts and was looking forward in seeing her. Worried of her reaction to his explanations of who he was, he took a step towards to his new life and knocked upon the door.

A girl opens the door and stares at him awkwardly, Is that her? My sister?..
"Urm..Hello, My name is Zess Crosszeria Black, and I believe I'm your half brother..We haven't met, but I'd like to explain that further this more with you..I know this is completely unexpected..May I come in?" He glances at her again hoping for a somewhat sane response..

Karma looked up at him and cocked her head to the side. "No." She said simply, closing the door again. She went back to the Family Room.

"If my mom had had another child, which I doubt, but whatever, what would she name them?" She asked curiously.

"She had a fondness for the name Zess..."

Karma was back at the door, opening it and looking up at the kid. "What did you say your name was again?"

Zess was surprised at the quick response she gave him and suddenly the door closed in on him. Puzzled in what to do next, she returns and opens the door once again feeding my hopeful wishes. "My name is Zess Crosszeria Black" grinning this time "I'm glad to have met you..Sister" he takes her hands in his, pulling her into a tight embrace.

Karma frowned and waved her hand dismissively. "Don't call me sister. I don't even know you." She looked back into her house before looking at him. "Mother's upstairs sleeping. Try to be quiet, will you?" She stepped to the side, letting him pass before she shut the door again.

She led him into the living room, sitting on a couch. She ran her hands threw her hair, scratching the back of her neck. "So. Tell me about yourself, Cross."

Upset by the rejected hug, Zess follows her into the house and sits down.
He stares at her with a saddened look and then glances at the ground.
"I wouldn't know where to start..."
A few minutes has passed and Zess didn't say one word.
Then finally, " I'm sure we have the same father Regulus Black?...Correct?"

Karma nodded. "He died a long time ago, though." She said. The silence stretched longer, and she sighed. "Alright. Get up."

She stood and headed to the double doors just before the Family Room, which were closed. "Alright, loser. I'm taking a leap of faith here. Don't make me have to kill you." She warned, her tone dark. "This is the only family I've had my entire life."

With no further words she pushed the doors open, revealing the room.

It was large, and filled with portraits from ceiling the floor, the far wall being the Family Tree. Each portrait was 'asleep', snoring away. "Here is our entire family, Cross." She grumbled something softly, below his hearing.

He steps into the room filled with portraits and stares amazed by how many there were.
He thought he heard her say something else after announcing who the portraits were of,
but maybe it was just his imagination.

Stepping closer to some of the portraits he observes each and every one of them closely, astonished. " This is our family?.. " He turns to look at her and smiles at her charmingly.

"Yep." She said, sitting on the floor before her grandmother. She knocked on the frame twice, smiling. "Grandmother." She said gently, as if waking her. The painting blinked itself awake. "This is Zess." She introduced. "And apparently, he's my brother." She said as far as introductions went, it was pretty good, she thought.

"Zess. This is Grandmother."

Zess sits down next to Karms in astonishment. Staring at the portrait of their grandmother... This is her? he thinks, his heart swelling up of happiness. "Um, Hello.." tense at this first meeting.. "As you already know, I'm Zess Crosszeria Black.."

Karma leaned back on her hands, eyeing her 'brother' with something a lot like contempt. "Will you just talk already? She's a person, not a muggle photograph!" She growled low in her throat. "And don't make that mistake."

She smiled suddenly, her head cocked to the side. "Hey Cross. Where do you live?"

Zess stared at the moving portrait, unsure of what to say .."How are you? I mean, well I guess that's a crappy question. I guess I should talk about what I like or even do since you don't know me Grandmother.. well I like to paint and sketch, and I bake sweets. It's odd I know, Men don't bake sweets, but honestly I do it for the a girls smile" He grins and goes on and on about himself and how he's been living and all the questions he has for her/about her.

Zess finally turns to answer his sister "I don't live anywhere right now. My luggage is in the front. I came here by train.."

Karma grinned. "Oh. So that's where all the girly genes went." She teased lightly.

Her eyes widened in shock. "You can't just come here and expect to live here! What about school? And... and.. stuff?" She narrowed her eyes at him. "You had to have lived somewhere. Where were you before this?"

Zess ignores his sister insult but laughed a bit anyway, It was pretty funny and he didn't mind much.

His eyes filled with sorrow " I lived with my Aunt; Emilia Crosszeria for a short amount of time in Spain, since my mother Mirella died after... our father vanished..I was only an infant when that happened, about the age of 2. My Aunt sent me to live in France, within the coven of french vampires." he stared at the floor.

Karma furrowed her eyebrows. "Father didn't vanish. He died." She looked upward, in the direction of the rest of the house. "He died a very long time ago." She sighed. "Mother died when I was five." She said softly. "She got really sick, and she started coughing up all this blood... and then I had to bury her." She looked down at the ground. "We can go together, if you want."

Her eyes widened delightedly. "You're a part of a Coven?!" She asked happily. "Really?" She smiled. "Well, I suppose you can come live here during breaks, but for the school year you'll just have to live with them." She narrowed her eyes at him. "And no just inviting people over or anything. This house has been in our family for nearly forever. Mess it up, and I mess you up." Her voice turned into a growl. "Permanently."

Zess looks up at her shocked "He died???" .."Together? where to?" confused at the information he's just received.

He scratched the back of his head "Yes really. " He smiled at the thought of coming home during breaks, this felt like home.. "No worries here, That would be impolite to just invite friends. Or even a girl at the very least." He backs away by her tone of voice, a bit terrified of the way she meant it as well.

Karma raised her eyebrow. "Father was Regulus Black, or at least, my father was. Apparently mother turned to a Vampire out of anguish when he died, and then sacrificed something or another to become human again and have me." She looked upward again. "But, she died when I was five." She said again. "So she's in the cemetery." She narrowed her eyes at him. "If you don't want to visit my mother, than that's fine. You don't have to."

She smiled sweetly at him. "Oh, and if people come over, you can answer the door. I'm almost never here anyway." She smirked. "And if they try to kill you, please refrain from getting blood on the floor, Lace doesn't like cleaning it up."