I had been dreading dinner for weeks now. The family dinner that would inevitably end up with someone either drunk or crying. Maybe both. Our family dinners didn't exactly have a great track record.
Especially when I'd bring the current person I was seeing.
The last guy I'd been dating, an engineer named Trevor, had left the dinner halfway through because my grandma had claimed that he was possessed by a vodyanoy, a male water spirit that was known to drown people. Why did she think that, you ask?
Well, he had a tattoo of waves on his forearm, which she had interpreted as a demon’s mark. Because having just having a normal, non-demonic tattoo apparently wasn’t possible.
Anyways, that wasn’t the first time my grandma had made comments like that. She had this fun quirk of thinking anyone I dated was either cursed or possessed. Something that definitely didn’t help my already-dry dating life.
So, after years of failed relationships and being ghosted after family dinners, I decided to try a new method: don’t introduce anyone to my family. Ever.
And that had worked well for the past year. I’d managed to stay in a relationship longer than a few months. We were even planning on moving into an apartment together in the next-coming months. Everything was going well.
So of course, it only made sense that my family would plead and beg to finally meet him. After weeks of my mom’s constant nagging over the phone, I finally gave in. I’d bring him for dinner.
Briefly. No longer than an hour. Because after an hour meant that my mom would start asking her embarrassing drunken questions and my grandma would start theorizing which demon he was.
I was determined for this dinner to work out.
“It’ll be fine,” Nate had said, trying to comfort me as we drove. He squeezed my knee a she was driving.
“That’s what you think,” I frowned. “You haven’t been there to witness my grandma’s odd fixation on Russian folklore.”
“Well, lucky for her, I love learning about folklore.” I didn’t say anything, envying his positivity. The positivity that would be gone within an hour’s time.
We arrived at my grandma’s house later than I had promised. I hoped that dinner would be ready and it would cut out some of the time spent talking with my family. My mom answered the door with a smile. “Alexis! And this must be Nate. It’s great to finally meet you.”
She pulled us both in for a hug.
“Sorry we’re late,” I apologize. “There was some traffic.”
“There wasn’t traffic,” Nate said. I shot him a look. “Oh! You mean that traffic. I almost forgot about it. Yeah, it was bad. Really bad.”
We walked inside. My grandma was already sitting at the table, waiting. Warm food was steaming on the table. I kissed her on the cheek before sitting down. “This looks great, baba.”
She said nothing, her eyes narrowing at Nate as he sat down. He gave her a nervous hello. This is only the beginning, I thought with a sigh.
“Let’s start,” my mom said, joining us at the table. We began serving food onto our plate. My grandma continued to shoot odd glances in Nate’s direction as she ate. I could feel him eyeing me, a bit weird, his eyes seemed to say. I gave him a knowing look.
I told you so.
We ate in silence. I prayed that it’d last. But it never did. “You brought a unique one this time, Alexis,” my grandma said.
“Can we not start this now?” I asked. It was too early and I was far too sober.
“Nate,” she continued. “Have you ever felt drawn to, or I suppose a kinship towards vampires?”
He swallowed his food, confused. “I’m not sure what you mean.”
“You carry the aura of a besomer.” She put some food into her mouth and chewed it. “A very dangerous demon.”
“Grandma—” I started to say but Nate stopped me, putting a hand on my shoulder.
“What kind of demon is that?” He asked. His voice had lowered. There was a darkness in his gaze that I’d never seen before.
“Hm, I think you know.” They were staring at each other. The table suddenly felt tense. I looked over at my mom who was uncomfortably draining her wine.
“I’m not sure I do.” His fingers dug into my shoulder. That’s starting to hurt, I thought.
“They tend to enjoy darkness,” my grandma said. “And a craving for blood. It’s no wonder you latched on our Alexis. She’s got the blood of our family’s ancestors. Pure blood.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Nate said. He released my arm. I could still feel the ghost of his grip even after it was gone. “Although, I'm sad to admit you’ve got the wrong type of demon.”
His eyes flashed. “I’m far worse than any besomer.”
loreallwrites t1_j6f5sg9 wrote
Reply to [WP] The person you're dating comes to dinner to meet your family. But the instant you step in the door, your grandmother goes deathly pale, and shouts the name of a creature from her country's folklore. by Affectionate_Bit_722
I had been dreading dinner for weeks now. The family dinner that would inevitably end up with someone either drunk or crying. Maybe both. Our family dinners didn't exactly have a great track record.
Especially when I'd bring the current person I was seeing.
The last guy I'd been dating, an engineer named Trevor, had left the dinner halfway through because my grandma had claimed that he was possessed by a vodyanoy, a male water spirit that was known to drown people. Why did she think that, you ask?
Well, he had a tattoo of waves on his forearm, which she had interpreted as a demon’s mark. Because having just having a normal, non-demonic tattoo apparently wasn’t possible.
Anyways, that wasn’t the first time my grandma had made comments like that. She had this fun quirk of thinking anyone I dated was either cursed or possessed. Something that definitely didn’t help my already-dry dating life.
So, after years of failed relationships and being ghosted after family dinners, I decided to try a new method: don’t introduce anyone to my family. Ever.
And that had worked well for the past year. I’d managed to stay in a relationship longer than a few months. We were even planning on moving into an apartment together in the next-coming months. Everything was going well.
So of course, it only made sense that my family would plead and beg to finally meet him. After weeks of my mom’s constant nagging over the phone, I finally gave in. I’d bring him for dinner.
Briefly. No longer than an hour. Because after an hour meant that my mom would start asking her embarrassing drunken questions and my grandma would start theorizing which demon he was.
I was determined for this dinner to work out.
“It’ll be fine,” Nate had said, trying to comfort me as we drove. He squeezed my knee a she was driving.
“That’s what you think,” I frowned. “You haven’t been there to witness my grandma’s odd fixation on Russian folklore.”
“Well, lucky for her, I love learning about folklore.” I didn’t say anything, envying his positivity. The positivity that would be gone within an hour’s time.
We arrived at my grandma’s house later than I had promised. I hoped that dinner would be ready and it would cut out some of the time spent talking with my family. My mom answered the door with a smile. “Alexis! And this must be Nate. It’s great to finally meet you.”
She pulled us both in for a hug.
“Sorry we’re late,” I apologize. “There was some traffic.”
“There wasn’t traffic,” Nate said. I shot him a look. “Oh! You mean that traffic. I almost forgot about it. Yeah, it was bad. Really bad.”
We walked inside. My grandma was already sitting at the table, waiting. Warm food was steaming on the table. I kissed her on the cheek before sitting down. “This looks great, baba.”
She said nothing, her eyes narrowing at Nate as he sat down. He gave her a nervous hello. This is only the beginning, I thought with a sigh.
“Let’s start,” my mom said, joining us at the table. We began serving food onto our plate. My grandma continued to shoot odd glances in Nate’s direction as she ate. I could feel him eyeing me, a bit weird, his eyes seemed to say. I gave him a knowing look.
I told you so.
We ate in silence. I prayed that it’d last. But it never did. “You brought a unique one this time, Alexis,” my grandma said.
“Can we not start this now?” I asked. It was too early and I was far too sober.
“Nate,” she continued. “Have you ever felt drawn to, or I suppose a kinship towards vampires?”
He swallowed his food, confused. “I’m not sure what you mean.”
“You carry the aura of a besomer.” She put some food into her mouth and chewed it. “A very dangerous demon.”
“Grandma—” I started to say but Nate stopped me, putting a hand on my shoulder.
“What kind of demon is that?” He asked. His voice had lowered. There was a darkness in his gaze that I’d never seen before.
“Hm, I think you know.” They were staring at each other. The table suddenly felt tense. I looked over at my mom who was uncomfortably draining her wine.
“I’m not sure I do.” His fingers dug into my shoulder. That’s starting to hurt, I thought.
“They tend to enjoy darkness,” my grandma said. “And a craving for blood. It’s no wonder you latched on our Alexis. She’s got the blood of our family’s ancestors. Pure blood.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Nate said. He released my arm. I could still feel the ghost of his grip even after it was gone. “Although, I'm sad to admit you’ve got the wrong type of demon.”
His eyes flashed. “I’m far worse than any besomer.”