Okay. Junie. Makeup. Fudge. Vampire alien. Let's continue. Thanks for reviewing, ShadowLord56 and Mysterio.

Well, I guess the makeup worked. Dad said nothing more about getting me a check-up, and Mom didn't seem to notice that I was wearing more makeup than usual. I looked pink-cheeked and healthy, mostly. I also made sure I only visited Fudge every couple of days. I'd read in the medical book I'd found that new blood cells were being made every second, so I gave them a chance to regenerate before I gave any more.

I'd explained to Fudge why I couldn't risk it, but it hadn't been too happy. "Aren't we friends, Junie?" it had said. "What does it mean to you when you can't help me whenever you want?"

"I'm trying to protect both of us!" I'd said pleadingly. "If Mom or Dad get suspicious, you're toast. And if I give you a lot of blood too fast, I could get seriously ill. And then who would feed you?"

Fudge tilted its mouth area, then said "You know, you're not the only one who could feed me..."

I frowned. "You live on blood, and I'm the only one who knows about you. What do you mean, I'm not the only one?"

"Don't you have other friends?" Fudge reasoned. "People who trust you, even if you don't trust them? Ask one over. Cause some kinda cut, collect some blood and I get an extra snack."

A thought hit me. "You're going to need more as you get bigger, aren't you? How big are you going to get? If you get bigger than my trampoline, I can't do anything to hide you. And another thing – Dad spends a lot of each weekend in the garden. What if he finds you?"

Fudge missed a beat. Then it said "We can take it slow, if that's what you want. We'll talk again in two days. You don't have to use my suggestion...at least, not yet."

I kept going at the same pace I had for a while, giving only as much blood as I thought I should. I was getting more and more moments of dizziness. By the time of the summer holidays at the end of June, I was having that happen every day.

Worse, Fudge was still growing. It really was my size now, starting to poke over the trampoline. Not much, but I was sure someone would notice it soon. Only Dad worked in the garden, but even then...well, it didn't matter. As long as I didn't talk about it. I wasn't sure why it didn't want anyone else to know about it, but even if Dad saw it, he wouldn't know what it was, right?

So that's what I asked, on a sunny afternoon. "Why don't you want me to say anything about you? I mean, I looked at a lot of plant books when I first found you, and I can't find you in any of them. You'd just be a new discovery. Nothing would happen to you."

Fudge sounded impatient. "You're not actually going to tell anyone? If someone sees me, that's my problem. But if you start running your mouth about me, that'll be your problem. I mean, look at me." It opened its mouth wide. "I'm your friend as long as you keep quiet. But if you break your promise-" This time, it wrapped a vine around my waist and pulled me close. "I can hang onto you here as long as I want."

I couldn't believe it. Fudge was threatening me now? I thought it wanted to be my friend.

"I'm not going to tell." I managed in a tiny voice. "I just wanted to know why. Are we still friends?"

Fudge let me go. "We're always friends, as long as you don't talk about me. And as long as you keep me alive." it added. "I'm kinda starving right now."

Wordlessly, I fed it, then l ran back inside, stopping briefly as a moment of dizziness overwhelmed me. I wondered momentarily if I really was losing too much blood. But if I stopped feeding Fudge now, it wouldn't be happy. And I wouldn't be able to go to the garden at all, because Fudge would start calling me, and it had just demonstrated that it could tie me up for as long as it wanted to force me to feed it.

I was starting to wonder if it was a good idea to tell someone about Fudge, Well, I couldn't tell someone properly, but I could sort of...just...hint at it, right?

I kept putting it off for the next few days, though. I didn't want to ask Dad when he got home from work, because he was almost always tired and it was enough to spend time with him. And I didn't want to ask Mom. I didn't think she'd have an answer for me, or if it sounded hypothetical, she might not take it seriously. I needed a real answer.

The weekend came. I actually had a rather good Saturday. The kids on my block invited me to play soccer, so I was able to forget about Fudge and throw myself into the game. Plus I got to tackle almost every kid on the other team at some point. Actually, I went for the boys a bit more than was really called for. It helped that my teammates cheered me on every single time I tackled anyone, or got the ball. I even scored two goals.

I stayed away from Fudge all day. It was tempting to go to the garden, but I resisted the urge and just talked to my Barbies instead. It didn't make me feel heard, but at least I didn't have to give up any more blood or feel threatened. Even though I knew I'd have to go back and feed Fudge sometime, I wanted to have just one day when I didn't have to worry, and I just had to hope it would still listen to me the next time I saw it.

But on Sunday, circumstances changed. That is, they changed in a way that was simultaneously better and worse. Something happened that meant that Fudge's fate was taken completely out of my hands.

I had already fed Fudge and was just talking to it when I heard a clatter behind me. I instinctively turned.

Dad had just come out of the house to work in the garden, the way he often did. But this was the first time I'd been talking to Fudge when he came out. He'd just dropped his pruning shears and any colour in his face seemed to disappear.

There was a long pause, as we just looked at each other. Then, Dad spoke, very quietly. "Juniper, go back into the house right now. Go to the living room. I'll be there in a minute."

I knew he was serious when he didn't use my nickname. I didn't know exactly what I was in trouble for, but I knew it wasn't good. And I knew, right then, that there was something more to Fudge than I knew.

It had to happen eventually. Fudge was growing bigger and bigger and it couldn't stay a secret forever. Considering that Seymour still works in the garden, he was going to spot it sometime. It just happens that he saw it before it drained Junie and she had to start on other people.