From Sunset Till Sunrise

by Jonathan Rosen

Herb laughed. “I’m just joshing with you. He didn’t say anything. He just doesn’t like you. Now, where were we?”

  Tommy pointed at the shopping bag. “You were about to give us gifts.”

  “Oh, yes! I almost forgot.” Herb reached into the bag and pulled out a couple of T-shirts and tossed them to us.

  I opened mine up. It was the same stupid, orange-eating gator T-shirt that he was wearing.

  “I thought they were the most adorable things. And now we can all wear them together to neighborhood barbecues and whatnot. Everyone will be so jealous of all of us.”

  I forced a weak smile. “Yeah, I’m sure there’s nothing that people want more than a novelty T-shirt.”

  Tommy slipped his over his head. “I’m going to wear mine now!” He pushed his arms through the sleeves until the shirt was over what he was already wearing.

  Herb clapped. “Splendid!” He held his index finger up. “Oh, and there’s one more thing!” He started laughing. “These are the best things ever. When I saw them, they were as good as bought.” He reached into the bag again, fished out two bottles, and pushed them across the table toward us.

  I picked one up and saw a tiny bit of sand and shells in one. “Bottled Florida Sunshine?”

  Herb dabbed at his eyes and laughed. “Isn’t that the funniest? Can you imagine? Bottled sunshine? It’s like the Pet Rock all over again.”

  “What?” I asked.

  “What will they think of next?” Herb said.

  I had no idea what he was talking about, and it took every ounce of willpower I had not to roll my eyes. “Thanks, Herb. These are really great, but—”

  “Oh, don’t mention it. As Dionne Warwick says, that’s what friends are for.”

  “Um … yeah. Anyway—”

  Herb slid the bag across the table. “There are three other sets inside, for your parents and dear little Abby. We’re all going to be the talk of the town!”

  “I have no doubt about it,” I muttered.

  Herb sat back in his seat. “Anyhoo, what brings you boys around?”

  I stuffed the shirt and bottles back into the oversized shopping bag. “That’s what we’ve been trying to tell you.”

  Tommy looked back over one shoulder, then the other, like he was checking to see if anyone was listening. “We need your help.”

  “Anything, boys,” Herb said. “You can always count on Herb. It’s my motto. Now, what’s the trouble?”

  Tommy leaned forward. “What do you know about vampires?”

  Herb’s expression changed. The smile disappeared from his face. “Why do you ask about vampires?”

  Tommy glanced at me. “Because Devin’s in love with one.”

  “I’m not in love! I barely know her. And anyway, she’s not a vampire. There are no such things as vampires.”

  Herb looked slowly back and forth between us. “Oh, there are vampires.”

  Tommy elbowed me. “I told you!”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked.

  Herb pyramided his fingers in front of his face. “There are vampires. And they’re deadly. Though I haven’t seen one in quite some time.”

  Tommy gulped. “You’ve met some, for real?”

  Herb nodded. “Oh, yes. Barely escaped with my life the last time.”

  I swallowed hard. “Herb, we don’t have time for—”

  “I was visiting Transylvania,” Herb said. “For one of those Witches and Warlocks conferences. Well, as you well may know, Transylvania is also famous for vampires. Now I don’t need to tell you that warlocks and vampires don’t mix. They’re like Martin and Lewis right around the breakup, not the reconciliation on the telethon.”

  I held my hand up. “Herb, I have no idea what you’re talking about. And besides, we don’t know that she’s a vampire. Tommy just thinks that she is.”

  Tommy laughed. “Oh, she’s a vampire all right. She’s really pretty and she’s talking to Devin? I mean, c’mon!” He turned to me. “No offense.”

  “Gee, Tommy, why would I take offense at that?” I yelled.

  Herb clapped. “Boys!”

  Tommy and I looked back at Herb.

  “We need to focus.” He peered over his glasses at us. “We have no time for bickering. If true, this is serious. Vampires are no laughing matter. Sure, some people think they’re funny and quick with a quip, like George Hamilton, but they’re not. They’re really more like Bela Lugosi.”

  “Who?” I asked.

  Herb ignored me. “Where’s this one?”

  Tommy pointed. “Down the block.”

  Herb glanced toward the window. “Oh, dear. That’s not good at all.” He gazed out. “Are you sure?”

  Tommy nodded. “She only comes out at night.”

  “She goes to private school,” I said.

  Tommy snorted. “On weekends?”

  Herb rubbed his chin. “Hmmm … that doesn’t mean anything by itself, but it’s something to keep an eye on. What else?”

  “Trust me, she’s a vampire,” Tommy said. “A bloodsucking, soul-stealing vampire. And we’ve never even seen her dad … well, except for that coffin he sleeps in.”

  Herb leaned forward. “Coffin?”

  “We don’t know that he sleeps in it!” I said. “And besides, he collects movie memorabilia.”

  “Oh, please,” Tommy said. “You’re just going by what the movers said.” His mouth drooped. “I just thought of something. I bet you he’s the lead vampire. The one pulling all the strings. He’s the one we have to kill.”

  “We’re not killing anyone!” I yelled.

  Tommy pounded his fist on the table. “Herb, please tell him that we have to kill the neighbor.”

  Herb held up his hand, motioning for silence. He stood up and paced the room.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “If there are indeed vampires here, we must tread carefully.” He sighed. “Nothing can ruin a town like vampires. They really bring down property values.”

  Tommy shot me an I-told-you-so look. “See?” He turned to Herb. “Do you think you can whip up some spell that’ll turn them all into dust, or something like that?”

  Herb shook his head. “I’m afraid not. Vampires are notoriously immune to witch or warlock magic. I might be able to do something, but indirectly. If this is true, we’ll have to figure out more conventional means.”

  “This is stupid,” I said. “Do you two hear yourselves? There are no such things as vampires, and even if there were, we don’t know that Lily is one.”

  Herb stopped pacing. “Her name is Lily?”

  The way he asked made me nervous. “Yeah, so?”

  “Not good. Lily is a common vampire name. It’s like Smith and Jones for mortals. Or Shirley for goblins.”

  “Goblins?” I asked.

  Herb thrust his index finger into the air. “This bears further checking. We need to be able to rule it out, or address it.” He rubbed his chin again. “Now, I need to think of a pretext to meet them and see for myself.”

  Tommy jumped up. “You don’t need a reason. Devin’s mom invited them over for coffee and cake tonight.”

  Herb whipped his head in our direction. “To your house?”

  I nodded slowly, not liking the way he said it. “Uh … yeah?”

  Herb rushed over to me and grabbed my shoulders. “Devin, you must not let them into your house!” He let go. “At least, not until we figure out what they are.”

  “It’s too late for that,” Tommy said. “She already invited them … kind of.”

  “What does ‘kind of’ mean?” Herb asked.

  Tommy thought a moment. “It means she invited them over, but not actually into the house. I don’t know if that counts or not. She’s not really good with these sorts of things.”

  Herb’s brow furrowed. “Hmmm … I don’t know if that counts, either, but until we do know we must take precautions.”

  “Herb,” I said. “I don’t really think that’s neces—”
<
br />   He held his hand up again. “No, I insist! You rest easy, my young friend. And don’t worry about a thing. Herbert T. Dorfman is on the case!”

  For some reason, that didn’t make me feel any better.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  MEETING THE NEIGHBORS

  As far back as I can remember, every single time Mom’s invited company over, I’ve hated it. The people were boring, and even worse, Abby and I were forced to be nice to each other for the entire night. The worst one was probably the first time Herb came by. After that, I never wanted to have any guests over ever again. Until now.

  This time, I had to admit, I was kind of excited about seeing Lily. I’d wanted to speak to her for months, and now she was actually coming over to my house. Finally, something good was going my way.

  Well, unless you consider the fact that she just might be a vampire, a possibility that Tommy wasn’t letting me forget.

  He was sitting on the edge of my bed, writing in my notebook, which he had now changed to the Vampire Research File. “Okay, I assume you still have no holy water?”

  I shook my head. “No, and we’ve been through this a thousand times already. I don’t know why you think that every person in town has a supply of holy water in their house.”

  He scribbled in the notebook. “Because when you live in Gravesend, it should really be a requirement. When I’m an adult, I’m going to make sure that my home is always fully stocked. As far as I’m concerned, you can never have too much holy water.” He glanced at my clock. “Hmmm. There’s no time to go and get anything blessed before they get here. By the time I’d get there and back she’ll probably have your blood half-drained.” He shrugged. “I mean, I could probably stop them, but by that point what difference would it make? We’d better come up with an alternate plan.”

  I pictured my blood being drained from my body and winced. “Why is it that every time you say something about what might happen it involves me dying?”

  “I’m sorry, but I don’t have time to make things all nice and sweet for you. This is serious, and the sooner you realize it the better off you’ll be.” He stood up and peered out my window. “Now, where the heck is Herb? He’s supposed to be here already.”

  “Yeah, and that’s another thing. I still don’t understand why we had to include him. He’s just going to make things worse.”

  “Do you even pay attention when I talk?”

  I shook my head. “I try not to.”

  Tommy ignored me. “Magic to fight magic, remember?”

  “Yeah, but Herb told you that vampires are immune to warlock magic.”

  He snapped his fingers. “Aha! So, you admit that she’s a vampire!”

  “No, I didn’t say that.” I rubbed my temples. “I don’t know what I’m saying. You’re giving me a headache.”

  “Better a headache now than a neckache later. If you know what I mean.”

  I walked away from him. “Please promise me that you’re not going to do any of this while Lily’s around, okay?”

  Tommy followed me. “I don’t know why you even want her. Relationships with vampires don’t work out. Seriously, what if you wind up marrying her? You know how uncomfortable it is to sleep in a coffin? It’s also very claustrophobic.”

  I pushed him away. “Nobody said anything about getting married. I just don’t want any of this talk.”

  “But we have to find out whether or not she’s a vampire.”

  “No, we don’t. Your plans are stupid. And what’s worse, you never even let me in on them. I never have any idea what you’re doing”

  His expression turned serious. “Did you know that vampires can read minds?”

  “No, they can’t. And she’s not a vampire.”

  “They can. That’s why I try to keep some things from you so they can’t read your mind and discover our plan. Because, no offense, but between the two of us you’re kind of the weak link.”

  I tapped my chest. “I’m the weak link?”

  “I said, no offense.”

  “Okay, again, just because you say ‘no offense’ doesn’t mean it’s okay!”

  He frowned. “Wow, you sure are sensitive lately.”

  “Devin!” Mom called from downstairs.

  For once, I was grateful for her interruption. Anything to get a small break from Tommy.

  “Yeah, Mom?” I shouted.

  “Why don’t you and Tommy come down and help me set up?”

  “Okay!” I started toward the door.

  Tommy ran in front of me. “What are you doing?”

  “What do you mean, what am I doing? Didn’t you just hear her? She wants us to come down and help.”

  “But it’s your mom’s fault that we’re in this mess to begin with. Tell her you’re busy now.”

  “What should I tell her? That we can’t help since we’re planning for vampires?”

  He thought a moment. “Do you think she’ll be okay with that?”

  “No, I don’t think she’ll be okay! Let’s go.” I motioned for him to follow.

  I walked out of my room. Thankfully, Tommy came along without too much objection and followed me down the steps.

  Around halfway down I heard talking.

  “Please, won’t you come in?” Mom’s voice.

  I froze. My heart pounded. I didn’t know if it was because I was happy or scared. Or maybe a little bit of both.

  Tommy grabbed my arm and whispered. “She let them in! Your mom let them in!”

  My hand trembled. I hated that Tommy was getting to me with this. “Maybe it’s Herb.”

  “We both know it’s not Herb!” He tugged at my arm. “C’mon, let’s go back upstairs.”

  “We can’t. We’re already too far down!”

  “We’re not ready yet!” Tommy insisted.

  “Devin, is that you?” Mom called again.

  I winced. “Uh, yeah, Mom.”

  “What are you doing? Come on down, already!” she said.

  I pulled Tommy’s arm off me. “C’mon, we have to go.”

  He put his hand in front of my chest. “Wait! Did you ever stop to consider that your mom might be compromised? We might have to stake her.”

  I swatted his hand away. “Will you stop with that? We’re not staking my mom.” I took another step down. “Now let’s go!”

  I continued down the stairs and turned the corner for the living room.

  Mom, Dad, and Abby were on one couch, while Lily was on the other.

  I stopped in my tracks, staring at her.

  My body went numb.

  She smiled.

  My heart flipped.

  Tommy leaned over and whispered, “I’ll go get the garlic.”

  “Shut up,” I said, out the side of my mouth.

  Mom saw me. “Oh, there you are!” She stood up and gestured to Lily. “I actually invited Lily and her dad over earlier than I told you.” She threw her hands up. “Surprise!”

  My eyes darted around the room. “Her dad?”

  Suddenly, someone stood up from the reclining chair.

  I hadn’t even noticed anyone sitting in it, since it was facing away from me.

  Instinctively, I jumped back.

  There might’ve even been a small shriek, though I’m not sure. And I also couldn’t tell if it came from me or from Tommy.

  All I knew was that I had my hands curled into fists and bunched up around my throat.

  I felt like a fool, which wasn’t helped whatsoever by the fact that Tommy was huddled behind me with his arms covering his neck.

  “Devin, what are you doing?” Mom asked.

  The man in front of us laughed. “Oh, it’s okay. I must’ve startled them.”

  Tommy and I stared up at a towering man with dark hair that had a few gray streaks running through the sides. He must’ve been well over six feet tall.

  He was wearing a dark suit with a red shirt.

  My first thought was that he was way too dressed up for a night of coffee and cake at our
house.

  He extended his hand. “You must be Devin!”

  “Devin,” Mom said, “this is Mr. Moroi, Lily’s dad.”

  I reached out slowly. “Hi.”

  He grasped my hand.

  I don’t know if he was squeezing hard on purpose, but it sure felt like it. My hand felt like Play-Doh in his grip.

  “None of that Mr. Moroi stuff,” he said. “Please, call me Levi.”

  I didn’t answer, only nodded instead.

  When he finally released my hand I had to flex it several times to stop the pain.

  He turned to Tommy. “And that must make you Tommy.” He extended his hand again.

  Tommy just waved. “Hey.”

  “Why doesn’t everyone sit down?” Mom said.

  “Devin, aren’t you going to sit next to Lily?” Abby practically sang.

  I glared at her but she only smirked back at me.

  Lily smiled. “Sure. Come sit here, Devin.”

  I nodded again and slowly walked to the couch. I knew it had to be my imagination, but the closer I got to her, the better I felt. I sat next to her.

  Mom cocked her head. “Tommy, aren’t you going to join us?”

  He pointed to the ground. “No, I’m good over here.”

  “Tommy!” she snapped. She turned to Dad and swatted his arm. “Will you tell the boys to stop acting so weird?”

  “Don’t act weird, boys,” he said.

  Mom sighed. “Go sit down, Tommy.”

  Tommy took a few steps and turned, so he was facing Levi, and sidestepped the rest of the way. He looked like a nervous crab. He sat on the other side of me, but scooted to the far end of the couch.

  Mom stared at him and then turned back to Levi. “I’m sorry, they’re not usually like this.”

  “They’re not?” Dad asked.

  Mom peeked at him through the corner of her eye before pointing to the coffee table in the center, where everything was already laid out. “Please, help yourselves.”

  Everyone reached out and started taking food, except me and Tommy.

  He motioned toward Levi and flapped his hands like a bat.

  “Stop it,” I mouthed at him.

  Mom gestured to Lily’s dad. “Levi was just about to tell us all about his performing arts school. He’s the headmaster there.”

  Levi took a sip and set his cup down. “Before I do that, are you sure you’re done with your story about the water recycling project you did for the town?”