“Boring.”
“How can you say that?” he asked, holding me close. “You can wake up in the daylight, go to school, and see your reflection.”
“But I want to be like you.”
“You already are,” he said with a smile.
“Were you born a vampire?”
“Yes. Were you born a human?” he teased.
“Yes. Are there millions of vampires around?”
He nodded. “But we are a minority, so we like to stick together. Obviously there is safety in numbers. We can’t reveal our identities or we’d be persecuted.”
“It must be so hard to cover up who you really are inside.”
“It’s very lonely, feeling like an outcast. Like you are invited to a costume party, but you are the only one in a mask.”
“Do you have a lot of vampire friends in Romania? I bet you miss them.”
“My dad procures art for his galleries in several countries. So we traveled quite a bit. By the time I made a friend, it was time to leave.”
“What about humans, like me?” I asked, curling up next to him.
“There is no one like you, vampire or not,” he said with a warm smile. “It’s hard making human friends when you don’t attend school, and it’s even harder keeping them when they’re eating their evening dinner and you are just rolling out of bed.”
“Are your parents upset that you have a human girlfriend?”
“No. If they met you, they would immediately fall in love with you, just like I did,” he said, and stroked my hair.
“I’d love to travel and live in the nighttime and sleep during the day. Your world seems so romantic. Being bonded to one another for an eternity. Flying off into the night together. Thirsting for no one but each other.”
“I feel that way about your world.”
“The grass is always greener, I guess. Or, in our case, blacker.”
“When I’m with you,” he began, “I don’t care which world we are in, just as long as we’re in the same one together.”
13
The Promise
Wake up,” Alexander gently whispered in my ear.
I opened my eyes to find that I had crashed out on the couch in his TV room as he stroked my hair. Kissing Coffins was playing on his oversized flat screen.
Jenny had desperately entered Professor Livingston’s office at the university.
“I knew I’d find you here!” she exclaimed, finding Vladimir seated at his desk, his head buried in a textbook.
“You weren’t supposed to come,” he warned, without looking up, “to my house or to my study. You have put yourself in danger.”
In the distance, there was an eerie howling.
“Why did you let me fall asleep?” I asked Alexander, lifting my head from his shoulder. “Did you put a spell on me?”
“You suggested we watch this,” he replied. “But you conked out as soon as I pressed ‘Play.’ Besides, it’s late and you’ve been through a lot.”
“Late?” I asked, stretching my arms. “For you it’s the middle of the day.”
Jenny looked toward the window. “They are coming for me,” she confessed to Vladimir nervously. “They want me to be one of…you.”
Vladimir methodically turned the page of his book. He didn’t look up. Another eerie howling was heard in the distance.
“I’ll walk you home,” Alexander offered as we rose to our feet. He kindly handed me his black leather jacket.
“But I want to stay here,” I whined.
“You can’t. Your parents will be worried.”
“I’ll tell them I’m babysitting.”
“For a seventeen-year-old?”
He put the coat around my shoulders.
“I had better go—” Jenny started, looking out the window of the study into the fog-layered darkness. “It was foolish of me to come.”
“You’ll be all alone here in this huge mansion,” I said to Alexander, as I adjusted my wrinkled dress.
“I’m safe. Besides, I’ve sent for Jameson.”
“As slow as he drives? It’ll take him years to get here. I’ll stay until he arrives,” I said, sitting back down.
“Wait!” Vladimir called, his head still focused on his book.
Jenny stopped at the door. The professor rose and slowly walked to her. “Since I’ve met you, I haven’t been myself,” Vladimir confessed.
The howling continued.
“Come on, girl,” Alexander said, nudging me.
“I was afraid I’d never see you again,” Jenny said. “If I leave here without you, I may not be able to find you next time.”
I stared at Jenny as if she had just proclaimed my own fear.
“But what if I never see you again?” I asked Alexander, pulling him close.
“Is tomorrow after sunset soon enough?”
“I can’t leave,” I told Alexander. “I thought I’d see you after the Welcome to the Neighborhood party. And the next night you were gone.”
“I left to protect you, not to hurt you,” he answered in a serious tone, sitting down next to me.
“Protect me from what?”
“From Jagger. From me. From my world.”
“But you don’t have to protect me.”
“My world is not just filled with romance, like you think it is. There is danger.”
“There can be risk anywhere. It’s not exclusive to vampires. You just have to be careful.”
“But I don’t want you to be near danger in any world.”
“I won’t if we are together,” I argued.
“I don’t want you to think you have to change who you are to be with me,” he said earnestly.
“I know that,” I assured him.
“Or ask that you change.”
“That’s why you left Dullsville,” I realized out loud. “You were afraid I’d want to become a vampire.”
“Yes. But there was a more imminent danger presiding. A vampire with white hair.”
“Jagger.”
He nodded.
“Then why did you go to Hipsterville?”
“Hipsterville?” he asked, confused.
“That’s what I call it,” I confessed with a grin.
“Of course,” he said with a laugh. “I got word from my parents that Jagger had found an apartment in ‘Hipsterville’ and was searching cemeteries in neighboring communities for my grandmother’s monument. Once he’d found it, he would know which town I was living in.”
“That was what the note meant,” I remembered. “A warning that Jagger was on his way to find you. To seek revenge.”
“What note?” he asked, confused.
“In your room,” I confessed.
“You snuck into the Mansion after I left?”
I flashed him a cheesy grin.
“I should have known,” he said, and smiled back. Then his playful tone turned serious. “But more important than finding me, he may have found you.”
“Well, he did, but that was my own fault.”
“I was going to head him off at the pass before he came to Dullsville—confront him before he confronted me. Jameson and I found an abandoned manor house so we could hide while I made my plan. But I didn’t plan on one thing.”
“I’d follow you?”
“I saw the most beautiful girl climbing down the backyard tree.”
“That was you in the attic window?”
“Yes.”
“So why didn’t you—”
“I kept a close eye on you. I had to, didn’t I?”
“So why is Jagger out to get you?”
A sharp howl came from the screen, distracting Alexander from my question.
“We need to get you to the cemetery—to sacred ground,” Vladimir warned. The handsome professor led her through the dark, marshy woods, riddled with fog. Vladimir held Jenny close as the howling sounds grew louder.
Alexander and I were fixed on the movie.
“How can we be together,” Jen
ny asked, “if I’m not a vampire?”
Suddenly the TV screen went black. Alexander placed the remote he was holding on the coffee table.
He stood up and held his hand out for me.
“How can we be together?” I asked, rising.
“How can we not be?” he reassured me. Alexander grabbed my hand, and I reluctantly followed him out of the Mansion and toward my house. I felt like a kid at Disney World at closing time.
The night air in Dullsville felt fresher than ever, the dark sky clearer, the wet grass crisper. “So why was Jagger seeking revenge?” I asked.
“It’s a long story,” he said, with a yawn.
Alexander seemed so content forgetting the past, our hands entwined as we walked side by side. But I wouldn’t rest until I knew.
“I have all night. And you have ’til sunrise.”
“You’re right,” he said, as we walked down the street. “It was about a promise I never made.”
“A promise?” I asked.
“To take a girl for all of eternity.”
“What girl?”
“Jagger’s twin sister, Luna.”
“He has a twin?”
Alexander nodded.
“Well, who made the promise?” I questioned aloud.
“My family did the year the three of us were born.”
“Like an arranged marriage?”
“It’s more than marriage.”
“So why Luna?”
“When she was born, it was said she didn’t respond to the darkness but seemed to flourish in the light. She refused to drink anything besides milk. Desperate, her family took her to a local underground doctor who pronounced her ‘human.’”
I laughed. Alexander didn’t seem to find it funny.
“It just sounds strange to me, that’s all,” I said, as we turned a corner.
“Well, it wasn’t funny to the Maxwells. They were devastated. Luna had to live her life in daylight, while her family lived at night. She never even bonded with Jagger. At the time of the agreement, my family and his were very close. It was understood that when Luna was eighteen, we’d meet for a covenant ceremony and unite together for eternity, ensuring her a place in the vampire world.”
“So what happened?” I asked, as we cut across the lawn through Oakley Woods.
“As I grew up, my family traveled and our families became distant. Because Luna and I lived in different worlds, I never even knew her. When it came time for the ceremony, I had seen her only a few times. She didn’t know me, and she was going to be with me forever?”
“Well, you are quite handsome,” I said coyly. “So what did you do?”
“When it came time to kiss her for eternity, I leaned over and kissed her good-bye.”
“That must have been hard for you, being a vampire and all,” I whispered.
“I was doing it for both of us. Of course, the Maxwells didn’t see it that way. They felt that I had spurned Luna, therefore offending her entire family. They were outraged. My parents quickly arranged for me to come here with Jameson and live in my grandmother’s Mansion.”
“Wow. It really had to have been tough following your heart when it went against your vampire community,” I said. “And even more difficult to have been forced to leave Romania because of that decision.”
“When I saw this raven-haired beauty trick-or-treating from my attic window, I knew I’d rather spend an eternity alone waiting to see her again than spend one with someone I didn’t love.”
Just then we reached my front door. Alexander gave me a long good-night kiss.
“Tomorrow after sunset,” I reminded him.
“And not a second later,” he said.
Alexander waved to me as I opened the front door. I walked inside and turned around to wave good-bye.
He had already disappeared, just as I knew he would.
14
Changeling
It’s after midnight,” my dad warned as I tiptoed past him watching ESPN in the family room.
“Dad, I’m sixteen. It’s a weekend.”
“But this is—” he began in a stern voice.
“I know, your house. And I’m your daughter, and until I’m on my own I’ll live by your rules.”
“Well, at least you were paying attention.”
“You’ve been saying it to me since I was two.”
“You’ve been sneaking out since you could walk.”
“I’m sorry, it won’t happen again,” I said.
I handed him his soda that was sitting on the coffee table and gave him a good-night hug.
“I’m glad you had a good time at Aunt Libby’s,” he said. “But I’m also glad you’re back home.”
“Me, too, Dad. Me, too.”
Exhausted, I crawled into bed without even removing my rain-dampened clothes. I switched off the Edward Scissorhands light on my nightstand and licked my lips. Alexander’s kisses still lingered on my mouth. I curled up with my Mickey Malice plush, wishing I were holding Alexander instead. As I lay in bed, I tossed and turned. I couldn’t wait for tomorrow’s sunset.
Moments later, I felt a presence stirring in the quiet. I glanced around, but all the shadows were from the furniture. I checked under my bed; even a bat couldn’t squeeze between all the junk I had stashed underneath it. I opened my closet door, but the only clothes I found were on hangers or strewn on the floor. I tiptoed to my window and pulled back the curtain, looking out into our backyard.
“Alexander?”
I saw a darkened figure walking away from the house, into the night.
“Good night, my love,” I said, pressing my hand to the window.
I returned to bed and fell asleep.
The next morning, I awoke with a jolt. Yesterday’s events seemed like a dream.
When I rose in my stiffened clothes, I realized that those events were real.
“Why are you still in your outfit from yesterday?” my mom nagged when I entered the kitchen. “Don’t they talk about proper hygiene in health class?”
I wiped my haggard eyes and stumbled to the bathroom. I peeled off my day-old clothes and stepped into the shower.
Warm water flowed over my pale skin. My black nail and toe polish looked stark against the clear white tub and tile that surrounded me.
I was back in Dullsville and Alexander was in his Mansion. We could finally live our lives together. But my boyfriend was a vampire and his nemesis had come to hunt him down. I’d never thought Dullsville could be so, well, not dull!
My whole life had changed in just a few days. For sixteen years I’d been living the same monotonous existence. My greatest concern had been finding black nail polish in a pastel town. Now it was getting through a sun-filled day alone while Alexander slept peacefully in his Mansion. We wouldn’t be able to go for afternoon bike rides, meet after school, or spend our weekend days hanging out.
It was hard to imagine that I wouldn’t ever be able to share sunlight with him. I was beginning to have doubts that I could handle this new world.
“It was a blast! I bought you this,” I said, and handed Becky a package as we sat on the Evans Park swings.
She opened a Hello Kitty journal. “Cool. Thanks!”
“They have the best stores ever! And I went to a place called the Coffin Club. I met this weird guy.”
“Really? Matt and I just went to the movies.”
“If I tell you a secret, a super-duper colossal secret, do you promise not to tell anyone?”
“Can I tell Matt?” she asked eagerly.
Matt, Matt, Matt—who cared about Matt when I was bursting to tell her about my encounter with Jagger and the truth about Alexander.
“Why are we talking about Matt when I have the biggest news of a lifetime?”
“Well, you always talk about Alexander,” she barked back. Her porcelain cheeks flushed ruby red. “And I listen to you all the time. Just ’cause you went away and had exciting things happen doesn’t mean I didn’t, too.”
> I was surprised by Becky’s outburst. It had been only a few days since she had hooked up with Matt, but if she felt for him half of what I felt for Alexander, I’d have to understand her intensity. Becky had always been so mousy. Now that she had her own beau, she had become more confident. Our relationship had changed. We had never had anyone before but each other.
“Fine,” I said, reluctantly. “You’re right. I’m glad you are going out with Matt. Someone as awesome as you should have an awesome boyfriend.”
“Thanks, Raven. Now, what were you going to tell me?”
I paused, debating if she could handle the vampirey info.
“Is Matt going to show up here again?”
She nodded. “He’s right behind you.”
I guess I had my answer.
“So, Monster Girl, how’s Monster Boy?” a male voice called as I left the park. I glanced around to find Trevor in his red-and-white soccer uniform.
“I thought I was done with you. Are you always going to be in my face?” I asked.
“As long as you wear black I will be. Have you two made any Monster Babies yet?” he asked.
“No, but when we do, I’ll be sure to name one after you.”
I walked away, and Trevor continued to follow.
“How do you do it? Play soccer, spend your daddy’s money, and annoy people, all at the same time?” I asked.
“I could do more than annoy you, if you’d let me,” he said, coyly fixing his green eyes on me.
“So that line isn’t working on the cheerleaders anymore?”
If Trevor had ever truly bothered me before, he was now just a pest given what I’d recently been through.
“I still think there’s something fishy going on in that mansion,” he said, unrelenting.
“Give it a rest.”
“Don’t you think it’s strange that Alexander’s never seen during the day?”
“I wish you weren’t seen during the day. Besides, he’s homeschooled.”
“My mom told me she spotted that freaky butler man hanging out at the butcher.”
“Yeah. That is strange. The butler eats food. Who knew?”