Kissing Coffins

  “He requested ‘the freshest, bloodiest meat you have.’”

  “Would you prefer they drink your blood?” I teased.

  He looked at me in shock.

  “Get a life,” I said. “Maybe your mom should be paying attention to you more and gossiping less.”

  “You leave my mother—”

  “I really don’t have time for you or your mother anymore. Maybe it’s time you get a new best friend,” I said, and walked away.

  15

  Nightmare

  Impatient, I arrived at the Mansion before sunset. Jameson’s Mercedes was once again parked in the driveway.

  I sat on the uneven front steps, picking at the dandelions and weeds growing between the cracking cement. The door slowly creaked open.

  Jameson greeted me.

  “I’m so glad you’re back,” I said, squeezing his bony frame.

  “I am, too, Miss Raven. I missed the Mansion and our favorite guest.”

  “I missed you, too. And I know one fabulous lady who was bummed that you were gone….”

  “Miss Ruby?” he asked, his eyes coming alive.

  “Are you going to call her?” I asked.

  “After what I’ve done? I couldn’t.”

  “You have to! Besides, it wasn’t your fault. Just tell her you were unexpectedly called out of town.”

  “She’d never forgive me. And she shouldn’t.”

  “Ruby loved the flowers. Besides, there’s a carnival this weekend. She’ll need a date. And you’ll need one, too.”

  I could see Jameson pondering the decision, excited about seeing Ruby again, but unsure if he could muster the courage to call her.

  Alexander bounced down the grand staircase, wearing black jeans and a black HIM T-shirt. He gave me a long hello kiss.

  “That was sweet of you to come by last night,” I said, in his arms.

  “I didn’t come by,” he said, confused.

  “You didn’t? I saw a guy in my backyard.”

  Alexander looked worried.

  “I bet it was Trevor,” I guessed. “I saw him after school. I think he still blames me for his plummeting popularity.”

  “If you need me to talk to him, I will.”

  I’d always defended myself from Trevor. It was refreshing to finally have someone who would stand up for me. “You are my superhero!” I exclaimed, and gave him a hug.

  “I found this really cool place.”

  “Cool place? In Dullsville?”

  He grabbed my hand and led me out of the Mansion and down the street.

  “It’s so ironic that the rumors Trevor started turned out to be true,” I said to my vampire boyfriend.

  “About me, or you?” he teased.

  “I mean, I thought you were…then I didn’t. But then I did. And then when I totally didn’t again, I found out you were.”

  “Now I’m confused. Am I? Or am I not?”

  “That is the question.” I squeezed his hand.

  “I just don’t want to lose you or put you in danger.”

  “I love danger.”

  When we passed Dullsville’s cemetery, I wondered where we were going.

  “Just a little bit farther,” he assured me.

  I would walk to China if Alexander were by my side. I had so many questions burning inside me, I didn’t know which to ask first.

  “Did you grow up with Jagger?”

  “Our families were close when we were born. I think he was jealous of Luna. With her living as a human, he knew what he was missing—school, sports, friends. He is scrawny, but I think he really dreamed of being a jock like Trevor. I kind of feel sorry for him. He wasn’t able to find something he enjoyed, besides revenge. But then my family traveled. My parents were bohemians, and we really never fit in with our kind. We were what was known as vampire vegetarians.”

  “Cool. So how do you survive? Connections with the butcher?” I joked, referring to my conversation with Trevor.

  “How did you know?” he asked, surprised. “We also have family who have ties to blood banks.”

  “Uh…I just guessed,” I replied. “My parents were hippies, too. They wouldn’t eat anything with eyeballs. But they traded their hippie threads and beaded satchels for Armani suits and briefcases, and they drive their BMWs past PETA protesters on their way to work.”

  “Sounds like our parents would make great friends.”

  “Just like us.”

  Alexander squeezed my hand.

  “I sometimes wonder what it would be like if you changed me. We could stay up all night long, fly into the night, and be bonded for eternity.”

  “I’ve imagined what it would be like if I were born like you. We could go to the same school, lie out in the sun, have picnics in the park. I’d be able to see us reflected together in a mirror. I’d fill my walls with pictures of us at the beach.”

  “We share similar dreams.”

  “You’re a human who wants to be a vampire, and I’m a vampire who wants to be human.”

  I gazed up at Alexander with empathy. I hadn’t realized he felt as alone in his own world as I did in mine.

  “It’s just over there,” he said, pointing to an abandoned barn across the train tracks.

  The red barn had seen better days. Boards from the gray roof and side were missing, like teeth on a smiling kindergartner.

  We stepped through the door frame. The door was missing, but the wooden beams that held the barn together still remained intact. Vacant stalls stood on one side, an empty hayloft on the other. Alexander grabbed a gas lantern that hung from a hook on the wall and turned it on. He took my hand and led me toward a darkened corner.

  “Are we going up into the hayloft?” I asked coyly.

  “Follow me,” he said. “Don’t be afraid. They won’t bite,” he said with a laugh.

  “Who’s they?” I wondered. I imagined a family of vampires, hiding out in the stable. Maybe long-lost relatives of his.

  I held his hand hard as he pulled me into the corner of the abandoned barn. I could see two slanted eyes staring back at me from the corner. I stepped into the moonlight to discover a powder white mama cat with a litter of snowball white baby kittens—and there in the mix by herself was one teeny black cat.

  “She’s just like me!” I exclaimed.

  “I thought you’d like her.”

  “She’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen! I want her to come home with me,” I said wishfully, kneeling down and staring at the kitten.

  “I found them last night.”

  “You want me to keep her?”

  “She’s finished nursing. And the mother can’t care for them all.”

  Alexander and I sat off to the side and watched as the kittens purred and the mama fell asleep.

  “I’m surprised she isn’t hissing at us,” I said.

  “She understands we’re not here to hurt her, but to help her.”

  “So, you’re like Dr. Dolittle with a bite.”

  He grimaced at my joke. “Do you want the cat or not?”

  I nodded my head eagerly.

  Alexander picked up the tiny black kitten, who looked like a small ball of yarn in his handsome hands.

  “It’s okay,” he said, handing her to me.

  I held the tiniest black baby kitten I’d ever seen. She licked her mouth and looked up at me as if she were smiling.

  “I can keep her?”

  “I wanted you to have something to remember me by.”

  “Remember you?”

  “To keep you company during the day.”

  “That is the sweetest thing!”

  I stared down at my Gothic Gift gazing up at me with teeny lime green eyes.

  “I’ll call her Nightmare.”

  16

  Vampire Visitor

  Where did you get that?” Billy Boy asked when I brought Nightmare into the house.

  “Alexander gave her to me.”

  “She’s so cute. But you’ll have to hide her from Dad
. You know how he feels about pets.”

  “I know, but I’m not bringing a lizard home this time. It’s just a kitty.”

  “Where’d you get that?” my dad asked, coming down the stairs.

  “Alexander gave her to me.”

  “I don’t care if the president gave it to you. It has to go.”

  “Paul, she is really cute,” my mom commented, petting Nightmare’s head. “And Raven is certainly old enough to be responsible for a cat.”

  “Her age is not what I’m concerned about,” he warned.

  “Dad, didn’t I prove enough to you by working at Armstrong Travel? I’m not a little girl anymore.”

  He paused as I held my Nightmare up to his face.

  “Fine. But she stays in your room. I don’t want her running all around the kitchen countertops or scratching on my couch.”

  “Thanks, Dad.” I gave him a huge hug and kiss on his cheek.

  “Now I’ll show you your new home,” I said to Nightmare as I took her to my bedroom.

  I looked around my room. I didn’t know where to put her.

  “I have an old box in the garage filled with clothes from college that would be a perfect bed for her,” Mom said, peeking in. “It’s above the tools. Bring me the box and I’ll repack the clothes.”

  “Thanks.”

  I started to close my bedroom door when Nightmare began to follow me.

  “I’ll be right back, sweetie,” I said, putting her in the middle of the floor. “I’m going to make you a bed.”

  Nightmare’s ears perked up, and she looked at the window. She darted up onto my computer chair and then onto my desk. She stared out the window, hissing. I picked her up and placed her on my bed.

  “I’ll be right back. Sleep here for now.”

  When I reached my bedroom door, Nightmare was back at my feet, her lime green eyes squinting at me. She hissed at me and pawed at my boots.

  I picked her up. “Mommy will be right back.” I kissed my new kitty on the nose, placed her back on the floor, and quickly closed the door. I could hear her scratching against the wood as I ran down the hall.

  I walked to our garage at the end of our driveway. I stood on my dad’s toolbox as I searched for the box. I could hear the crickets.

  There was a lot of rustling in the tree by my bedroom window. I froze.

  More rustling. It could be a squirrel. Or having just seen Trevor last night, I thought he could be toilet papering my window.

  I turned off the garage light and tiptoed over to the tree. But now the leaves were still. Not a bird. Not a squirrel. Not a soccer snob.

  I headed back to the garage, and then I saw Jagger.

  I gasped.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I just wanted to see you.”

  “I thought you went back to Romania,” I said, stepping back.

  “I was hoping you would come with me.”

  “Alexander assured me that the feud was over and you were gone for good.”

  “That is why you can’t tell him,” he said. “Otherwise, not only will your safety and Sterling’s be in jeopardy, but the whole town’s.”

  “The whole town?” I asked.

  “Don’t tempt me,” he said, licking his lips. “You wouldn’t like to know what happens when a small town finds out a vampire is living among them and dating one of their daughters.”

  I froze. I remembered how easily Dullsville was sucked into Trevor’s rumor, resulting in gossip and graffiti. If the town had proof of Alexander’s true identity, there was no predicting what people would do.

  “Fine, I won’t tell him. But you must leave now!”

  Jagger only stepped closer.

  “I’m not going back to the cemetery with you,” I argued, backing up. “I’ll scream if I have to. My father is inside and he’s a lawyer.”

  “That won’t be necessary. Why spend your life sitting in a mansion with a sensitive artist watching paint dry when we could see the world together?”

  “I’m not going anywhere with you!”

  “Well, I’m sure you could persuade me to stay in town. In fact, I’m beginning to like it here.”

  “I don’t want you! Your feud is over with Alexander. Go home already—”

  “Feud? I have other things on my mind now. Alexander might be able to deny who he is, but I can’t deny who I am.”

  His blue and green eyes shot through me. I looked away, afraid he’d make me dizzy again. He began to lean into me.

  “Raven!” Billy Boy called from the back door.

  My brother ran down the steps holding Nightmare. Jagger stepped back into the shadows.

  “Billy Boy! Go inside. Now!” I exclaimed, running toward him.

  “What’s taking you so long?” Billy Boy asked. “Nightmare is throwing a freak attack. I found her pawing against your bedroom door.”

  I blocked Billy Boy’s step. Frantically, I turned around, shielding him.

  The backyard was empty. Jagger was gone.

  I pulled Billy Boy inside and locked the door.

  “I’ve never been so happy to see you!” I said, squeezing my little brother, Nightmare in his hands.

  “What’s wrong with you?” he asked, cringing like I had cooties.

  “I just thought I saw the bogeyman.”

  “You watch too many scary movies,” he said.

  “I sometimes feel like I’m starring in them,” I replied.

  17

  School Ghoul

  As much as I hated going back to school after spring break, I knew at least my daylight hours brought a safe reprieve from Jagger.

  I returned to Dullsville High a different person than when I had left—as if being the only goth in a conservative town hadn’t made me different enough. I couldn’t concentrate in class, knowing I was privy to a secret world of vampires.

  Classmates continued to bury their heads in textbooks and anticipate the next soccer game, while I doodled in my journal and couldn’t wait for the next sunset.

  I was still an outcast, but I think my classmates got a rise that Trevor had been dethroned from his kingdom. And although they didn’t high-five me in the hallway or invite me to their parties, I was actually given a cutter’s privilege at the drinking fountain.

  “It’s a shame Alexander is homeschooled. It would be nice to eat lunch as a foursome,” Becky said at lunch on the baseball bleachers.

  “Yeah, that would rock.”

  “But still, we should do something together.”

  “How about going to the drive-in?” Matt asked, as he walked up the bleachers behind me. “Kissing Coffins is playing tonight. Admission is half price if you wear a costume.”

  “Cool! I’ve always wanted to see it on the big screen. I’m sure Alexander would love to go.”

  “And I’ll be able to see what happens to Jenny,” Becky said excitedly. “I can dress as one of the town’s vampires and wear a cape.”

  “And fangs!” I added.

  Just then Trevor walked onto the field with his soccer-snob groupies. He looked up at Matt, who sat down next to Becky.

  As much as Trevor tormented me and as pathetic as I thought he was, I felt a tinge of pity for him. He was an even sadder case now that he was Matt-less. I watched Matt offer Becky his sandwich.

  “I’m glad you got traded to our team,” I said to Matt, who closed his brown bag and gave me a warm smile.

  After school, Becky and I searched through my closet to find her a costume to wear to the drive-in.

  “Man, you do have a lot of black,” she said, as I tossed out dozens of skirts and shirts for her to choose from.

  Becky modeled black tights, a black miniskirt, and a lacy black chemise.

  “That’s perfect. You’ll be one of the members of the vampire gang who tries to convert Jenny. I just need my outfit.”

  I heard my mom’s SUV pull into the driveway, and Becky and I raced to meet her at the back door.

  “Can I have an advance on m
y allowance?” I asked hurriedly.

  “Calm down,” she advised. “Don’t I even get a hello?”

  “Hello,” I replied. “Now, can I have an advance on my allowance?”

  “I hope you didn’t bid on a Hello Batty toaster on eBay again. I thought we told you—”

  “I want to dye my hair blond.”

  “Blond?” she asked, shocked. “You are not going to ruin your gorgeous black hair.”

  “But it needs to be blond to complete my costume.”

  “Are you in a play?”

  “Well, sort of.”

  “For school?”

  “No, I just need your help.”

  “Well, I have some wigs from college in the box I emptied for Nightmare. I know there’s an auburn one. There may be a blond one, too.”

  “Can we go see?” I begged.

  Mom reluctantly put her purse down on the kitchen table, and Becky and I followed her into my parents’ bedroom.

  She rummaged through an old Harrod’s shopping bag. “Here it is!” she exclaimed, as if she’d found a sunken treasure. She handed me a weathered blond wig. “I wore this in college. Your father loved it!”

  I rolled my eyes. “I also need a white dress,” I confessed.

  She looked at me, pleased, as if her rebellious daughter were finally asking to borrow pearls. “I’ll see what I have!” she replied gleefully.

  She picked up a pair of flared denims with rhinestones from the box. “Do you believe I once wore these?” she asked, holding them against her pleated Ann Taylor skirt.

  “I have a white blouse,” she said.

  “Ahh. Here’s a white eyelet skirt.”

  “Perfect.”

  My mom stuck the wig on my head, and I held the clothes in front of me.

  “It’s like looking at a teenage version of myself,” she said fondly.

  I threw the skirt and blouse in the wash, and Becky and I returned to my room.

  “We are so going to rock!” I said. “But we just need one thing to complete our outfits.”

  I hunted through my dresser drawers, closet shelves, and boxes underneath my bed.