“How did you get away?”
“I didn’t. Another vampire hunter staked her in the back.”
“Good thing he was there.”
“Yes, well, the vampire hunters I had trained with knew that I was in over my head. I was just thirteen. I cherish this scar, though. It reminds me not to be stupid.” He rolled his sleeve down again.
“That’s a good story. I’m surprised it’s not in the book.”
“I should have thanked Elizabeth Howard for that. Perhaps she was trying to protect my pride.”
“That, or the story about your tongue being slashed by a vampire’s blade was better.”
I was enjoying our banter, and I could see that he was, too.
His dark eyes fixated on the cement beneath our feet, and I could tell he was thinking about something else. “You’re enchanting, Amy,” he said after a moment. “I am privileged to have met you.”
I felt my face getting hot. I was enchanting? He had it backward. I glanced at him, suddenly wondering if he was thinking about the kiss.
He took a breath. “I don’t know how well you remember what happened on Sunday morning.”
I stared down at the bench, at the inches of space between us, my heart thumping in my ears. “I remember.”
“I tried to avoid it coming to that, but it was bound to happen.” I looked up, and his eyes flickered to mine, as if he was uncertain as to whether to keep going. “My attraction to you has tested my self-control and my concentration.”
My mouth felt desert-dry, but I nodded. Alexander Banks was attracted to me.
“What are your thoughts?” he asked, looking at me intently.
My mind went blank. “I don’t have any.”
He gave a startled laugh, and it broke some of the tension. “I’m not sure that we should act on this, Amy. It is up to you. If you tell me to keep my distance, I will. But if you don’t, I warn you: I might kiss you again.”
“Might?” I was being bolder than I’d ever been. But if he was thinking of kissing me, then I wanted him to. Needed him to.
He swallowed. “It’s probable.”
“It’s … fine with me.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure.”
Instantly, he leaned in to kiss me. Our teeth knocked together. “I’m sorry,” he muttered.
“It’s okay.”
He smiled against my mouth. Then he proceeded to kiss me with such heart-stopping thoroughness that I felt like I’d been transported to heaven.
Eventually he pulled away. “Forgive me … I had thought to attempt a chaste kiss.” He searched my eyes. “I did not mean to put your reputation at risk.”
Still dazed from the kiss, it took me a few moments to understand what he meant. Kissing and courtship were taken a lot more seriously in his world. If you kissed a girl in public — or if you were caught spending time with her in private, kissing or not — you’d better be ready to marry her.
“My reputation will be fine,” I said with a smile. “It’s your reputation you should be worried about. You’re the Alexander Banks, after all.”
“I’m terribly concerned.” A grin tugged at his mouth. “I was a winning catch on the marriage market, but you have destroyed me. I’m afraid the only way to salvage my reputation is to bring you back with me and make you my wife.”
“If I have to.” I was kidding, too. Mostly kidding. For a second, I wondered what it would be like to go to Otherworld with Alexander, to be the girl he would love and protect forever.
His face suddenly went serious. “In truth, in my world, I would never be able to associate with someone of your character. Vampire hunting has left my reputation beyond repair. It is considered manual labor of the most appalling kind. People want it done, but they don’t want to know those of us who do it.”
I shook my head at the idea of Alexander being undesirable. “Well, in my world, someone of my character would be lucky to date someone like you.”
His dark gaze glittered. He picked up my hand, lifted my wrist, and kissed it reverently.
I closed my eyes, feeling the warmth of his lips against my skin. I’d read about James doing the same thing to Hannah. In their world, kissing someone’s wrist was a sign of repressed passion.
When I opened my eyes, he lifted his lips from my wrist and curved them into a smile.
CHAPTER
FIFTEEN
ON FRIDAY AFTERNOON, I sat in front of the computer, unable to write a word.
This was ridiculous. I needed to write. It was my sanity, my way of releasing all of my pent-up emotions. Instead, I felt like I was in a creative deep freeze.
As usual, Alexander was all over my mind. His kisses had imprinted themselves on my soul — I relived them again and again. He was the one, I realized. The one I would always love. The one that no other guy could ever measure up to.
Katie and Luisa arrived around six, which forced me to get up from the computer. I had invited them to sleep over, hoping some time with my friends would distract me from everything that was going on.
I made our favorite dinner: grilled cheese, bacon, and tomato sandwiches. Luisa brought the movie Fool’s Gold, since she worshipped Matthew McConaughey second only to James Banks.
Mom joined us for the movie. I invited Chrissy to join us, too, but her only answer was to shut her bedroom door in my face.
The movie’s story line was so ridiculous that we decided it was funny. Mom, on the other hand, gave up halfway through, opting to watch TV in her room. We noshed on chips, and once we’d satisfied our salt fix, switched to brownies for our sugar fix.
After the movie, we chatted about random topics — whether Jake Levine was worthy of Luisa, and whether Katie and I would pass our upcoming Biology test. Luisa wanted to talk about all things Otherworld, but I managed to steer the conversation away with Katie’s help. We turned on MTV. There was going to be an interview with Noise Pollution, a band Chrissy loved. I knew she’d be disappointed if she missed it. Since I didn’t feel like being ignored, I asked Luisa to tell her. “She won’t want to watch it with us, but Mom will put it on for her.”
Luisa got up. “You’re too nice.” And she headed down the hall.
I really wasn’t. But if I did a few nice things for Chrissy, she might stop giving me such a hard time. She was too good at holding a grudge. After two weeks, she was still giving me the silent treatment, still slamming doors, still clanging dishes.
Luisa came back. “Chrissy’s not there.”
“She must be in with Mom. Hang on.” I went to Mom’s room and opened the door to find Mom dozing in front of the TV. No Chrissy.
Puzzled, I looked toward the bathroom, but the door was open. I turned to my friends, my alarm growing.
“She must’ve gone through your room and climbed down the fire escape,” Katie said, wide-eyed. She knew about Vigo, knew the threat that lurked outside when the sun went down.
I rushed to my room and found my window open. “Unbelievable.” Chrissy’s grounding ended tomorrow, and she had to go and risk messing it up now? What was she thinking?
I grabbed my phone and called Chrissy’s cell, but the voice mail picked up. No surprise there. I texted her: Come home now or call. I haven’t told Mom.
Luisa read the text over my shoulder. “You’re not going to tell your mom?”
“We’ll see. I know how to get Chrissy home.” There was no need to panic yet. Madison’s cell number was written on the white board in our kitchen. I dialed it.
“Hello?” Madison answered.
“It’s Amy.”
“Oh.” It sounded more like an uh-oh.
“Chrissy snuck out. Is she with you?”
“No. I’m home sick on a Friday night and it sucks. It’s not exactly where Chrissy or anyone else would want to be.”
I could hear the congestion in her voice, but that didn’t mean Chrissy wasn’t there. “My mom doesn’t know she’s gone. If you have Chrissy call me within five minu
tes, I won’t tell her. If she doesn’t call, Chrissy will be grounded for at least two months this time.”
“Seriously, she’s not here,” Madison insisted. “I’m not lying.”
“Then where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“Forget it. I’m telling my mom.”
“No — wait! She was going to the AMC theater.”
“Who was she going with?”
There was a pause during which Madison was probably thinking up a lie.
I gritted my teeth. “You’d better tell me, Madison. If you don’t, Chrissy’s going to blame you for getting her in trouble.”
“Okay, well … She’s meeting some guy she met on the Internet.”
I could hardly believe what I was hearing. Was Chrissy insane?
Seeing the astonished look on my face, Katie and Luisa exchanged worried glances.
“What’s his name?” I demanded.
“Justin.”
“Tell me everything you know about him or I swear —”
“I don’t know much, all right? He’s seventeen, I think, and he goes to the Catholic school. She met him on Facebook.”
“Did she show you his profile?”
“Yeah.”
“Find it and send me the link. Now.”
“Fine. But you’d better not tell your mom, or Chrissy will kill me. I can’t believe you’re making me do this.”
I hurried to the computer. I wanted to see if this guy’s profile looked legit. I was terrified that this seventeen-year-old was really twenty-five with tattoos and a criminal record.
“Okay, I sent it,” Madison said. “Can I go now?”
“Wait. I want to make sure it went through.”
I checked my e-mail every few seconds until I got it. I clicked on the link, and the profile came up.
It was a blond guy holding up a glass of red liquid. Ice blue eyes stared straight into the camera lens.
The air escaped from my lungs.
A strange numbness set in, without panic or emotion. My mind kicked into high gear.
I grabbed my wallet and took off at a run. Katie and Luisa were shouting after me, but I wasn’t listening. I didn’t wait for the elevator. I ran down the stairs, flew. One hand coasted the railings while the other held up my phone, clicked on Alexander’s number.
He answered. “Amy—” But the connection was lost. My phone never got reception in the stairwells.
Seconds later, I burst out the doors of my building and called him again.
“Amy?”
“Vigo’s got Chrissy.”
“What?”
“He lured her on the Internet. She was meeting him at the AMC theater. It’s the huge one downtown on Michigan Avenue.”
“I’ll meet you there.” He hung up.
I ran several blocks to LaSalle Boulevard and couldn’t see any cabs. I kept running, glancing back every few seconds. Finally I saw one, and I ran into the middle of the street, jumping up and down like a crazy person.
The cab screeched to a halt. I got in. “AMC downtown. Hurry, it’s an emergency.”
The cabbie looked startled, but he pressed on the gas.
The night flew by the window, not fast enough. Never fast enough. I didn’t know who would get there first, me or Alexander. I didn’t know where he was when I called. If I found Chrissy with Vigo, what would I do — attack him?
And if I didn’t find them there?
Those were the longest minutes of my life. When the cab finally pulled up to the curb, I threw a twenty into the front seat and ran through the doors of the theater. Alexander was there, interrogating the girl at the ticket kiosk. He stepped back, saw me.
“We have to check the theaters!” I shouted.
“There is no need.” His face sobered. And I saw something I’d never seen in his eyes before. Fear. For Chrissy, I realized. “They’re not here. The ticket girl said they met in the lobby but left together immediately.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I showed her the picture of Vigo from the book cover. She identified him right away.”
“Where did he take her?” I looked around helplessly, wanting someone to point me in some direction, any direction that would take me to Chrissy. “Where do we go?”
“I don’t know.”
The look in his eyes told me everything.
Chrissy could be dead already.
The world blurred. I tried to stay in the land of numb, to keep the hysteria bottled up.
But when we got into the car, I doubled over and sobbed. I should have known that Vigo would attack where I was most vulnerable. I should have warned Chrissy, protected her.
Alexander held me for a minute until I calmed down. Then he dropped me off at home and took off to look for Chrissy.
The police came, and I showed them Vigo’s Facebook profile. When the officers saw his picture, they exchanged a look. It was obvious to me that his picture matched the description of the vampire killer that had already been circulating. Thankfully, the connection didn’t seem to register with Mom. She was already on the verge of falling apart; she didn’t need to know the whole truth just yet.
Morning came. Mom encouraged Luisa and Katie to go home and get some sleep. They agreed. But Katie came back with coffee and bagels a few minutes later. She wasn’t leaving my side.
Mom went to the police station to fill out reports and give them more pictures of Chrissy. I kept waiting for the phone to ring. It would be Alexander telling me he’d found Chrissy and she was fine. Or Chrissy saying it was all a misunderstanding and she was on her way home. Or maybe the door would open, and there she’d be. She could have gotten away from Vigo.
Morning bled into afternoon. The land line rang. I jumped at it. Katie ran up beside me.
“Hello?” I said, my heart beating in my throat.
“May I speak with Amy?” asked a smooth male voice.
“That’s me.”
“A formal introduction is long overdue. My name is Vigo Skaar.”
I caught my breath. Katie immediately wrapped an arm around me, as if sensing who it was. I couldn’t even process that I was speaking to the vampire himself.
“Wh-where’s Chrissy?” I demanded.
“Here with me, of course. She’s sweet, your Chrissy. I can smell the sugar in her blood. Would you like to speak to her?”
“Yes.”
There was a pause and then, “Amy, help me!” It was definitely Chrissy.
“You’re going to be fine, Chrissy. Just —”
“I am glad you have faith that she will be fine,” Vigo said.
“Please let her go.”
“As much as I’d hate to give up this sweet sugar cookie, you have my word that I will let her go, so long as you give me what I want.”
I was afraid to ask. But he kept silent, forcing me to ask.
“What do you want?”
“I want Alexander. He has been playing a childish game with me for too long now, and it has become a nuisance.”
“You want to exchange Alexander for Chrissy.”
“Yes. But he must allow me to tie him up before I will exchange her.”
“You’re afraid to fight him.”
He gave a soft chuckle. “No, but I confess, I’d rather save myself the trouble and have him at my mercy.”
He didn’t just want to kill Alexander, I realized. He wanted to torture him. “Alexander will never give himself up.”
“He would to save an innocent. Didn’t he give up the chance to kill me in order to save you the other night?”
I didn’t answer. I heard an odd sound in the background, on Vigo’s end. A faraway, tinny sort of voice, as if someone were making an announcement, followed by a ping. I strained to hear better, but Vigo spoke again.
“If he was willing to give me up to save you, my dear, I imagine he’ll want to save your sister. She is a pretty enough girl, your Chrissy, though not as pretty as you. And her choice of attire is questionable
.”
“If you really want to have Alexander at your mercy,” I offered in desperation, “you’d exchange Chrissy for me instead.”
“Hmm, that’s a thought. Still, it would only delay the inevitable. I am quite convinced your sister is enough. Alexander had a sister, you know. But she was small, not a full meal in and of herself. Thankfully, his parents —”
“Stop!” I shouted. I had to lean on Katie for support.
“Your nerves are as brittle as your sister’s, I see. Would you be kind enough to pass the message on to Alexander for me? Either that, or give me his number so that I can call him?”
“I’ll tell him. How can I call you back?” The caller ID just said PRIVATE NUMBER.
“I will call you at six o’clock tonight. If the answer is no, she’ll be dead by six fifteen. Until then.” He hung up.
Katie and I stared at each other.
Something clicked in my mind. That sound. I knew that sound.
“He’s at the Atrium Mall,” I said.
“How can you know that?”
“I heard a PA announcement. He must’ve gone there because his hideout is underground and wouldn’t have phone reception.”
“Couldn’t it be any mall, or a bus or train station? Lots of places have PA systems.”
“At the end of the announcements, I heard a ping. They do that at Waldo’s when they’re having a blue light special. The only Waldo’s is at the Atrium Mall. I’ve seen the underground schematics. There are lots of tunnels under there. He must be holding her nearby. If not in the main tunnels, in one of the offshoots.”
“You have to call Alexander,” Katie said.
“Right.” When I went to dial the phone, my hands were shaking.
There was no answer. I wasn’t surprised. He must have been underground. I left a message. “Vigo called. She’s alive. I’m sure he called from the Atrium Mall. I’m heading there now. We need to find Chrissy before he calls again at six o’clock.”
Katie eyed me carefully. “You didn’t tell him about the offer.”
The Vampire Stalker Page 13
