Becky waved wildly to Matt just as the buzzer went off.
“Final quarter,” she said.
“We have to meet Alexander,” I said. “We need to go.”
Off in the distance, a shadowy figure emerged over the horizon and began strolling down the grassy hill toward us.
Even from a distance, his presence was intense. A figure like no other. My own breath escaped me and I felt a magnetic and magical connection. For a moment, words eluded me.
Handsome, charismatic, and truly alluring. Alexander Sterling, the perfect vampire.
13
Paper Chase
I stumbled into the kitchen, my vision blurry from lack of sleep and caked-on eyeliner that had smeared like a chocolate bar in the summer heat.
I was greeted by my overly chipper parents, nursing their coffee and tea before making their way to work.
“I bet this will wake you up,” my mom said, finding me bumping into the counter as I reached for a mug.
“Alexander’s in the paper!”
My eyelids shot open like a rocket.
“Where is it?” I scoured the countertop and dinette. “Do you have it?”
“I think Billy read it last.”
“Billy? You let Billy touch it?” I was horrified. “How could you! I know he got his snotty paws all over it!
He probably mangled the whole thing!”
“Calm down,” my father said.
I stormed upstairs to find my brother’s door locked. I banged so hard, my fist pulsed with pain.
“It’ll cost you,” I heard him yell back.
“It will cost you—an arm and a leg!”
The door slowly opened and I pushed myself inside. Billy was nowhere to be found. I jerked open his closet door, then heard his nerdy little voice from behind me.
“He says he sleeps in a coffin!” he teased.
“What?”
I spun around. Billy was standing at his door with the Gazette in his smarmy little hand.
I’m not sure who took off first. We both tore down the stairs as Billy cried, “Mom, she’s trying to kill me!”
“Nerd Boy—” I screeched, as I’d done all his life.
I hadn’t called him that name in months, but in my anger it just naturally rang out.
I tackled him before he reached the kitchen. I tried to wrangle the paper out of his hand as he pleaded with my parents for help.
It had been a while since we had a major sibling blowout bodyslam event, and he had grown stronger. It took all my might to hold him at bay.
“Raven, get off him,” my dad shouted.
“Billy, give your sister the paper!” my mom ordered.
“She’s sitting on my chest!” Billy hollered.
My dad pulled me off my brother by my woven belt, and I grabbed the paper from his hand.
I took off for my room, locked the door behind me, and hopped onto my bed. I spread out the paper and carefully tried to smooth the wrinkles.
Staring back at me on the front page of the Arts section was my boyfriend, with the caption “An Artist
Amongst Us.”
“He is so handsome!” I cheered.
OUR TOWN’S BEST-KEPT SECRET. A budding young artist, hiding out on Benson Hill.
I’d always heard ghost stories about the Mansion on Benson Hill, but I didn’t see any spirits wandering through the halls. I was invited into an old-fashioned estate with a reclusive teen. Homeschooled his whole life, Alexander spends his days and nights painting.
“What is his inspiration?” I asked him.
“A girl named Raven,” he replied.
Though I only saw the first floor, the rest of the Mansion appeared the same. He claims to sleep in a coffin and have a wine cellar straight from Transylvania. This artist might as well be a writer, too. But this interviewer wasn’t fooled. The only thing he was really hiding was his talent. Though Alexander Sterling may be able to spin a yarn, he is also able to paint.
There is more to this artist than could ever be told. It has to be seen. All you need to do is take a look at one of his paintings. You can see how he loves this town and the people who inhabit it.
“Do you want to be famous? Like Picasso, Dalí—Monet?” I asked him.
“No,” he said. “I just want to be like—me.”
I riffled through my desk and found some tape. I placed my boyfriend’s article right over my headboard.
Even wrinkled, Alexander Sterling was still the most gorgeous guy I’d ever seen.
14
Mortal Kisses
I wasn’t the only one who read the article on Alexander. In a town the size of Dullsville, small as a Shrinky
Dink, any news was news. No one wanted to be left out from any new information or, worse, be the last one to know.
A group of cheerleaders was stretching out in the hallway while I waited for Becky outside the restroom. I was exhausted as usual.
“Did you see the picture of that Mansion guy?” the captain asked.
“He’s totally hot,” her assistant said, fixing her headband.
“He’s really funny,” another said.
“Did you see how he was ribbing the reporter? He must be really confident to do that.”
“And talented. My parents bought one of his pictures at the Art Auction a few months ago,” the captain boasted.
“Hot, talented, and funny.”
“How did she ever land him?” her assistant said.
They all glared at me. Just then I received a text.
Funny article.
Picture of a vampire?
Impossible.
It was pitch-black when I went to Becky’s house to meet her. Her parents weren’t home and her house was unlocked. I called her name throughout each room, but she didn’t answer. I knew she was afraid to go to the barn alone, but perhaps she needed to replace the rake. I found the flashlight resting on the back-porch railing.
“Becky? Where are you?”
When I finally reached the barn, the metal door was ajar.
“Becky? Are you in there?”
I heard some whispering voices and a giggle.
“Becky? Is that you? Are you okay?”
I shined the light on a few bales of hay. On an empty ladder. Then the tractor. It caught Becky, who quickly covered her face.
“Becky, what are you doing in here? You hate the dark.”
Her hair was messy and she bore a menacing smirk on her face. I helped her up when I noticed two fresh wounds on her neck.
“No! What has Sebastian done to you?”
“What are you and Alexander waiting for?”
“No—Becky! What about Matt?”
“He’s not a vampire!”
Just then I heard a beeping sound. I awoke to find Mrs. Hathaway and a classroom full of students staring at me.
“Miss Madison,” she said with a stern voice. “Is that a cell phone I heard?”
“No—it was my alarm clock.”
The class laughed.
“I have the authority to confiscate anything that is electronic, other than a calculator—which, I might add, you don’t need in history class.”
Mrs. Hathaway returned to her lesson, and I quickly checked my message.
Let’s make history together.
I glanced up and saw Trevor peering back at me.
I shook off my dream, and Mrs. Hathaway stepped out of class.
“What are you doing this weekend,” Becky asked, “besides sleeping?”
Alexander’s party was fast approaching. I didn’t have much time to decorate. I only had one day to gather some gothic and groovy items. I’d been so distracted with keeping Sebastian away from Becky that I hadn’t had much time to be excited about Onyx and Scarlet’s arrival or figure out something to wear.
“Uh…not sure,” I finally answered.
“Why don’t we all get together?”
“I think Alexander has plans,” I said truthfully.
“Doing what?”
“We can stay in, too…unless you don’t want us over.”
“Oh…it’s not that. I just hate for you to cancel something dreamy like a movie night when all we are doing is hanging out playing video games.”
“Matt loves gaming. Besides, he’s never been inside the Mansion. And I haven’t either, for that matter. We were only outside for Alexander’s ‘Welcome to the Neighborhood’ party.”
“How about I get back to you?”
I waited for Becky’s response.
“Okay. Text me when you know,” she finally said.
I felt awful keeping Becky in the dark about Alexander’s party. She was my best friend—I included her in everything. For that matter, she was the only one I’d ever included. If it wasn’t for Becky, I’d have been totally alone all of my life. This was the thanks she got—being excluded from an intimate gathering hosted at the
Mansion. But I had to remind myself of the reason I was having the party in the first place—to keep her safe and mortal.
I was really shaken by my dream. Imagining Becky as a vampire—and how much she enjoyed it—jolted me.
I liked my best friend just the way she was.
But the dream felt so real. The fact that my best friend became a vampire before I became one haunted me. I was struck—by jealousy. No one in this town wanted to be a vampire more than I did. Not Becky, or a
Pradabee, or an unsuspecting soccer snob. If anyone was going to be bitten in this town, it was going to be me.
When the final bell rang, marking my freedom from the doldrums of Dullsville High, I met Becky at our lockers. “Do you mind dropping me off at Annie’s Antiques?” I asked.
“I’ll go, too,” she said as she loaded her books in her backpack and I unloaded mine into my locker. “I have nothing to do this afternoon.”
I was planning on buying goodies for the party. How could I do that in front of her?
“Are you sure?” I asked. “You know how I can dawdle forever. I don’t want you to miss doing your homework.”
“I’ve already finished it during study hall,” she said proudly.
“Then why are you taking home all your books?”
“The real question is why didn’t you take any of yours?”
Becky was as good a student as she was a friend.
“I have things on my mind,” I said. “I planned on doing my homework in the morning.”
She shook her head, as my mother had done a thousand times.
We exited the building, got into her truck, and drove the few miles to Annie’s.
Annie’s Antiques was one of my favorite haunts. A Victorian-style home was turned into an antiques store, each room filled with knickknacks, furniture, and artwork.
Annie greeted me with a warm hello. She was one of the few store owners who didn’t judge me by the way I was dressed, assuming I was going to vandalize or shoplift. The antiques store was also one of the few stops in
Dullsville where I regularly bought merchandise.
She wore an oversized leopard-print shirt with a black faux-fur collar and black rayon pants. Two golden retrievers roamed throughout the rooms and slept by Annie’s stool. “What are you looking for today?” she asked.
“Nothing in particular. Just browsing.”
“I got some new things in that might interest you,” she said, pointing to a nearby doorway.
I strode across the Victorian home’s hardwood floors, which were weathered by all the foot traffic and furniture being moved in and out. On a small table covered with black lace fabric were items from Halloweens past.
Coveting all the goodies, I gathered as many things as I could hold, as if at any moment there could be a swarm of competitive shoppers.
“You could use a shopping cart,” Becky said, helping me place the various decorations on the counter.
“Look at these!” Becky presented me with three fake tombstones. “You can put them in your room.”
“Absolutely!”
I found a box of skeleton lights perfect for hanging by the gazebo.
“I’m not sure that all the bulbs work,” Annie confessed when I brought them to my already rising pile of merchandise.
“It doesn’t matter,” I said, unfazed. “They are a must-have.”
I found some lace place mats, dragon-headed candlesticks, and a ceramic raven.
“Are you having a party?” Annie asked. “You could decorate a mansion with all this stuff.”
Becky gave me a skeptical stare. “Yes, what are you going to do with all these things?”
I handed Annie all the money I had in my wallet. “Saving them for a rainy day, I guess.”
“It might not rain for a while,” Annie said. “I hope you are able to enjoy them before then.”
“I will.”
Becky gave me a quizzical look as she helped carry the bags and load them into her truck.
“Need help taking them into your room?” she asked when we arrived at my house.
“That’s okay,” I said. “I really should do my homework, after all.”
That’s all I needed to say to let Becky know something was up.
“There’s something you’re not telling me,” she said.
“You know I tell you everything—or at least everything I can share that I don’t mind Matt knowing,” I said, giving her a friendly dig.
“Fair enough,” she said. “But I’ll find out from you one way or another.”
With that, Becky drove off. As I set down my goods on the driveway and unlocked my front door, I still felt a twinge of guilt. Becky had just helped me decorate a party I wasn’t even inviting her to attend.
Dusk settled over Dullsville as I anxiously awaited Alexander’s arrival at the cemetery.
We were going to share a private moment together before discussing our final plans for the party.
It was unusually late. I realized we might have planned to meet at the Mansion. I had finally decided to head back to the entrance when I got a text. Again, it was from an unavailable number.
I’m watching you…
I was sick of Trevor bothering me, and his game was about to end. I pressed the redial button, prepared to chew him out.
I heard a ringing coming from behind me but saw no one. I rose and followed the ringing until I made my way up toward the Sterling monument.
Out from the darkness emerged Alexander, a cell phone ringing in his hand.
My heart stopped. It couldn’t be. Alexander had a cell phone—and had been texting me?
“It goes against everything you believe in.”
He smiled a broad smile.
“It was you—all along?” I asked, still shocked.
He continued to beam.
“But you sent me messages during the day,” I said, “when you were sleeping in your coffin.”
“You’re not the only one who gets insomnia.”
The image of Alexander lying in his coffin, thinking of me and texting, melted me.
“But what made you do this?”
“I’ve always wanted to sit next to you in class. Buy your lunch. Watch you study. You should have all the things a normal girl gets from her boyfriend. And by going out with me…”
“I’m not normal, though, no matter who I go out with,” I said with a laugh. “At least these Dullsvillians don’t think so.”
He put his arm around me. “You aren’t normal to me, either. You are extraordinary.”
I wrapped my arms around him.
“You should have all the good things coming to you,” he continued. “All the gifts. I don’t want you to ever doubt how much I care for you.”
I took his free hand in mine. “But this isn’t your thing. Technology. Modern conveniences.”
“It’s not about what’s my thing,” he said with a smile. “It’s about yours.”
I hugged Alexander with all my mi
ght.
“But I don’t want you to change.”
“It’s not about changing—it’s about growing, together,” he said, like the wise soul that he was. “I wanted to let you know—that I am with you. Always. Forever. We don’t have to be separated by the sun, school, or even the night. Now I’m just a click away.”
I was deeply moved by Alexander’s present to me and rewarded my vampire boyfriend with mortal kisses.
15
Party at the Mansion
I spent the following day alone, toiling around in the Mansion’s backyard while Alexander and Sebastian slept in their respective tombs. No one would be able to help me set up for the party. That’s what I got for wanting to date a vampire.
I hung the skeleton lights from the wrought-iron fence and put place mats on a coffin-lid table. I lined the crumbling walkway with votives and floor-length candelabras. The fake tombstones poked out from the dead grass. Sebastian had hooked up his sound system in the gazebo, and I decorated it with plastic bats and blinking skulls.
By the time Alexander and Sebastian awoke, I was beat. The pair was wide-eyed and freshly groomed when they found me crashed out on a sofa in the parlor room.
Alexander gently petted my hair and awakened me from my catnap.
The best sight in the world was Alexander. Even blurry, he was smoldering. His deep, dark hair melted over his ears, and his smile was heavenly.
“You’ve really outdone yourself,” he said. “The backyard looks great!”
“What time is it?” I perked up in a hurry.
“They should be here soon,” he said.
“I’m not even dressed!” I exclaimed. “And I feel like I just got out of gym class.”
I leaped up from the sofa and dashed to the upstairs bathroom.
I only had twenty minutes to clean up. I washed, dried, primped, powdered. It was something I was used to, as I normally overslept and had to get ready for school in record time.
Also, I was extra speedy because I was anxious for our party to begin, eager to see Onyx and Scarlet, and for
Sebastian to fall in love with one of them so my relationship with Becky would return to normal.
When I finished my fifteen-minute makeover, I descended the outside backstairs as if I were a contestant in a beauty pageant. Only, instead of stilettos, hose, and a white ball gown, I was in rubber lace-up boots, fishnets, and a black slip dress. I spun around in my outfit.
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