The Vampire's Apprentice

Clancy cleared his throat and tore his eyes away from the picture. "Right, yes. EJ, if you would be so good as to light the candles?"
The teen nodded and carefully lit all eighteen candles interspersed along the two-tiered cake. "Here we go!"
Mrs. Mooney gathered the twins and began the ragged if enthusiastic chorus of "Happy Birthday."
 
Kitty laughed. If happiness was enough to kill a person, she would have been dead long ago.
When the time came, she blew out the 18 candles, only one silent wish in her mind.
"Let them eat cake!" She then declared.
 
"Ah, yes, the famous phrase reportedly said by the infamous queen, Marie Antoinette, in response to her starving people being unable to eat the bread because it was too hard," Norville said with a lazy smile. "It's said that she never actually said it, but it was a breviloquent way of expressing her grasp of the true standing of the commoners."
"Yeah, yeah, but I don't think that's what the cat of this party means," EJ smirked. "I don't think I'll chop off her head for offering cake."
"No one will be chopping off anyone's head, thank you very much," Mrs. Mooney smiled as she cut and served the cake. The first piece went straight to Kitty, and even Sam had a tiny piece of his own on a plate under the table.
 
"Indeed. Decapitation is far messier than most people realize," Clancy said with a look of distaste as he took his slice.
Suddenly, all eyes were on him, ranging from curious to shock.
"No, I am most certainly not telling that particular story," Clancy said firmly. "Kitty, why do you not regale us with tales of your day?"
 
His comment instigated another bout of hissed laughter she appeared to be trying to hold in. It took a moment to quell, and she finished her mouthful of cake before speaking. From the top, she began....
 
The twins sat near Kitty, listening in wide-eyed fascination. EJ pretended not to be listening, but he was. Norville, for his part, fell asleep halfway through his cake, and his mother had to rescue it before it fell. Clancy hung back, and his cake mysteriously disappeared bite by bite. He was ignoring Sam sitting next to him, waiting expectantly.
 
"I barely made it back to the park before sunset, but Someone must have been looking out for me. I caught a lovely shot of the bench before daylight faded," Kitty made a small gesture in Clancy's direction, giving a proud grin. "Then it was time I returned here, where you guys scared me half out of my wits when I turned on the light."
 
"That was my idea!" The twins cheered simultaneously. Then they scowled at each other.
"No, it was my idea."
"No, it was mine!"
"Mine!"
"Mine"
"Mum!"
 
The twins beamed proudly, and their mother gave Kitty a relieved smile.
"Are you ready for presents now?" JC asked brightly.
 
The twins grinned and ran to where the small pile of presents waited. They grabbed a badly wrapped box and dragged it over to her. "Here!"
"You can sit there to open them," Clancy said, indicating his chair.
 
Kitty accepted his offer, smiling amusedly at the strangely-wrapped package. "I wonder what's inside...." She mused, opening it as carefully as was considered possible for such a messy covering.
 
Inside were two home-painted mugs, one blue and one red. Both also sported images that could be generously considered to be cats. Probably.
 
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