From Sunset Till Sunrise

by Jonathan Rosen

  The only clean thing on his face were his glasses.

  “Why are you dressed like that?” I asked.

  “Quick, get in here!” He grabbed Tommy and me by the shirts and yanked us into the hedges with him.

  I pulled his arm away. “What are you doing?”

  He pried the hedges open a little and peered out. “Were you followed?”

  Tommy looked out too. “What’s going on?”

  Herb stared out a moment longer and then turned back to us. “When you boys told me that you were going into the vampire’s den, I stayed around, right outside their house, just in case anything happened. I ran back here when I saw you coming out. But if I heard any screams I was going in to rescue you.”

  I pointed to the leaves on his head. “How? With poison ivy?”

  “No, with this!” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a bag of sand.

  Tommy and I glanced at each other.

  I poked at the bag. “Sand? Between that and the bottled Florida sunshine you gave us, were you hoping the vampires would enjoy a day at the beach?”

  Herb frowned. “Vampires are obsessive. When items such as small, grainy things are scattered before them they have a need to count them.”

  Tommy snapped his fingers. “Like that little dude on Sesame Street!”

  Herb nodded. “Exactly!”

  Tommy pumped his fist. “I knew that stuff was real.”

  I sighed. “That was a Muppet!”

  Tommy rolled his eyes. “Don’t you think that these shows do research? They can’t use it if it’s not true. The last thing they need is to get sued.”

  “Sued by who?” I asked. “A vampire? Do vampires even have lawyers?”

  “Yes,” Herb said. “But you can’t tell them apart.” He frowned. “Sorry, this is not the time for jokes. Sometimes my quick wit just gets the best of me, and I think I’m Rodney Dangerfield.”

  “Who?” I asked.

  He waved his hands. “Never mind now. There’ll be plenty of time for me to regale you with my comedic musings later, but right now I need to know what happened in there.”

  I took a deep breath. “They admitted to being vampires.”

  Herb clenched his fist and grunted. “I knew it! We must dispose of them immediately.”

  “Wait!” I said. “She said it wasn’t her. That she didn’t bite Abby.”

  “And her father?” Herb asked.

  Tommy shook his head. “They said neither of them did it. They blamed someone in the school.”

  Herb’s eyes narrowed. “Like who?”

  “I don’t know,” Tommy said. “They said it could be someone who had something against Lily or her dad.”

  Herb rubbed his chin. “Hmmm, a school full of actors.” He nodded. “Okay, I could see pettiness there. Perhaps some would-be starlet who wasn’t getting the best roles since Lily was the principal’s daughter. Or maybe an unrequited love, like Cyrano for Roxanne.”

  I glanced at Tommy.

  He shrugged.

  “Yes,” Herb said. “If there’s one thing a theater school would be full of, it’s drama.” He thrust his finger up into the air. “But we will get to the bottom of this, or my name isn’t Herbert T. Dorfman, where this time the T stands for ‘truth-seeker.’”

  I raised my hand. “Um, excuse me? I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.”

  Herb wiped some of the mud away from his eyes. “I’ve decided that I’m going to help you with your vampire problem.”

  It was amazing to me that just a couple of days ago, I never would’ve believed that I’d be grateful for Herb’s company, but now it was a huge relief. “Really?”

  “Yessirree, Bob.” Herb tapped my nose.

  Okay, I was already starting to regret it.

  “I was thinking it over,” Herb said. “And I realized that I couldn’t leave you to face this without me. Why, we’re practically family.”

  I scrunched up my face. “We are?”

  “Of course,” Herb said. “We’ve broken bread together and I don’t take that lightly. We’re going to get to the bottom of this. Between the three of us, we’ll be the most popular trio since the halcyon days of Earth, Wind & Fire.”

  “I have no idea what that means.”

  “It means,” Herb said, “that we are going to make some beautiful music together.”

  Tommy peered back through the hedges. “It’s funny you decided that, because they said to ask you to come to the dance also.” He turned to Herb. “As a chaperone or something.”

  Herb arched an eyebrow. “They asked that the other night, too. There must be a reason why they’re still pushing for it.”

  “Because they need a chaperone?” I said.

  “No! Because it’s a trap!”

  I shook my head. “No, they’re good. They told me that there were good and bad vampires, just like there are good and bad people.”

  Herb turned to Tommy. “And what do you think?”

  Tommy gave a half-shrug. “I don’t know. She seems okay, but I don’t trust vampires.”

  Herb nodded. “I agree.”

  Uh-oh. I didn’t like the sound of that. Herb was flaky, and I had no time for him to keep changing his mind. I needed to reel him back in. “Wait,” I said. “It wasn’t like that. If anything, we’re the ones who kind of brought it up. She’s really nice, I promise.”

  “For a vampire,” Tommy added.

  “Hmmm.” Herb paced the small area. “That might change things.”

  “No!” I said. “Why does it change things? There’s no need to change anything.”

  Herb looked at us. “Vampires are capable of planting ideas, and you’d swear they were your own. They pick up thoughts in mortals and know how to manipulate them. It’s one of their powers.”

  Tommy gasped. “I knew that too!”

  I rolled my eyes. “No, you didn’t.”

  He slapped his forehead. “So stupid of me. They manipulated us!”

  I grabbed his arm. “No, they didn’t! Think about it. They could’ve done anything to us inside that house. But they didn’t. They even told us that they’re vampires and let us go. Why would they do that? They’re trusting us.”

  Herb took his glasses off and cleaned them on his camouflage jacket, before placing them back and sliding them up the bridge of his nose. “Unless that’s what they wanted you to think.”

  “You didn’t see them. They were putting their safety in our hands.” I turned to Tommy. “And you saw Lily’s face. She was shocked when I told her that Abby was bitten.”

  Tommy remained silent for a moment. “Yeah, she was. But you have to remember she is an actress.”

  I hated him. “You can totally tell if someone’s acting or not.”

  Tommy shook his head. “Not with vampires, you can’t. They’re sneaky. I bet Lily and her dad are the sneakiest of the sneaky.”

  “Not Lily,” I said. “She’s telling us the truth.”

  Tommy put his hand on my shoulder. “Did I ever tell you about Billy Thompson?”

  I groaned. “Oh, not him again. You’re talking about the kid you made up?”

  Again, he ignored me. “Let’s agree to disagree about that. But anyway, Billy Thompson used to live in the area. Right around here, as a matter of fact.”

  “You already told me this,” I said.

  “I didn’t tell you all of it,” Tommy said. “And besides, Herb didn’t hear.”

  Herb nodded. “Tell me.”

  Tommy continued. “Anyway, Billy went on living his life, bothering nobody, until one day he fell in love with a vampire.”

  “None of this is true,” I said.

  He went on. “So anyway, one day after a date, he comes home and he’s totally changed. Like in a trance or something. His family tried to talk to him, but do you know what happened?”

  I sighed. “Knowing you and your stories, I’m going to guess that he attacked everyone.”

  Tommy jabbed his finger at me. �
��Yes! Slaughtered every single one. And once word got out, the townspeople had to storm the house, because obviously, you can’t let a vampire run around town. But …” He held up his finger. “When they got inside, he turned into a bat, flew out a window, and was never heard from again. Do you want that to happen to you?”

  I pointed at him. “Last time you told me that his mother staked him!”

  He raised his chin. “It was at different times.”

  “How does that make any sense?”

  Herb stared at Lily’s house but spoke to us. “Boys, no arguing now! We must be vigilant. We can’t take anything at face value. Maybe she’s telling the truth. Maybe she’s not. Either way, we need to keep our guard up until we know for sure. The only thing we do know, for real, is that the answer will be at that dance in two nights.”

  “So you’re definitely going to chaperone it?” I asked.

  Herb thought a moment, and then nodded. “Yes. I have decided to go.” He grabbed my shoulder. “But we must take precautions.”

  “I told you,” Tommy said.

  That was all I needed. Herb taking precautions, too.

  Herb continued, “If we’re going to take care of a vampire, we have to make sure that we do it right the first time. Because the last thing we want to do is get on the wrong side of one. If there’s one thing you need to remember, it’s that supernatural creatures do not like to be crossed. If they are, they never forget. Ever. They’re like evil, vengeful elephants. No matter how long it takes, they’ll try to get even.” He flipped his hand dismissively. “But don’t worry about that now. Let’s just concentrate on Friday.”

  The front door opened.

  Herb ducked.

  Mom stepped out and looked down at us. “Why are you two standing in the hedges?”

  I glanced down at the pile of leaves where Herb was hiding. “Uh, we thought we saw something.”

  She took a step closer. “What is it?”

  “A bat,” Tommy said.

  Mom stepped back. “A bat? Really? Get out of those hedges right now!”

  Tommy jumped out. “I said it was a bad idea, Aunt Megan.”

  She patted him on the head. “I wish he listened to you more, Tommy. Now, let’s get inside. I want to hear all about your talk with the Morois.” They went in.

  I walked up the steps and turned around. “Good-night, Herb.”

  “Goodnight, Devin.” Herb’s voice came from the hedges. “Tomorrow, we plan.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  LILY UP TO BAT

  It had been over an hour since I shut off the light and hit my bed, but unfortunately, the results had been pretty much the same as every other night that week.

  I couldn’t sleep.

  Also, the same as every other night, Tommy was snoring away. I wasn’t sure what it would take to actually stress him out enough to lose sleep. Knowing him, it would be something like not having enough bread for a sandwich.

  The only good thing was the comfort of knowing it was only two more nights until the dance, and four more nights until Tommy’s parents came home from their cruise. I wasn’t sure what I was more excited about.

  No, that wasn’t true. As much as I hated to admit it, there was no way I would’ve even considered going to that dance without Tommy. He always made me braver about things. Heck, right then I was even happy that Herb was going to be there too.

  The two of them always seemed so sure about magic and supernatural creatures, and I felt like the odd one out. Herb was probably already used to that stuff, being a warlock and all. But even Tommy acted like it was an everyday thing. I guess, living in Gravesend, it was.

  Even though I trusted Lily, it wasn’t exactly comforting to know that I was heading into a place that would be filled with vampires. Even ones who were actors. And if that weren’t bad enough, the thought of having to bring Abby with me made things a hundred times worse.

  But the thing I kept coming back to was that I still wasn’t exactly sure what we had to do to get her to turn back into a normal kid. Well, normal for Abby, anyway.

  The problem was that even if we did find out which vampire turned her, what was I going to do about it? I couldn’t exactly tell the DJ to please stop the music for a minute so I could quickly kill a vampire to save my sister.

  I knew Mr. Moroi said that he would take care of it. But could I really trust him?

  I was hoping that Tommy or Herb would come up with an alternate plan to save Abby, but I had no idea what it might be.

  What I did know was that I couldn’t take much more of this. My nerves were absolutely shot.

  But at least I didn’t have that garlic smell in my room anymore. Tommy used the last of it around Abby’s room, just in case. So far I hadn’t heard a peep coming from there, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t up to something. Still, I felt safer knowing we took precautions, because if that meant keeping a scary little vampire away from me then I was all for it.

  Now, the only vampire I had to concern myself about was—

  “Hi, Devin.” A whisper in the dark.

  I jumped up. “Who’s there?”

  A giggle.

  Lily stepped out of the shadows and into a beam of moonlight.

  I took several deep breaths to steady myself.

  “Did I scare you? I’m sorry.”

  My heart was pounding. “How’d you get in here?”

  She smiled. “I figured now that you know I’m a vampire I could come by and visit. Thought maybe I could show you some of our cool tricks.”

  I eyed the door. “Do any of these tricks involve drinking my blood?”

  She laughed. “You’re really scared of me, aren’t you?”

  “No!” I thought a moment. “Should I be?”

  She laughed again. “You’re so funny. Do you know that after your mom invited us in once I could’ve gotten in anytime I wanted?” She paused a moment. “But I didn’t. You can trust me.”

  “But you’re inside now.”

  “True, but I thought we’re friends now.” She raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t we?”

  I stared at her for a few seconds, and realized that I hadn’t answered. “Uh, yeah. I mean, yes! Of course we are.” I glanced at the window. “But how’d you get in?”

  She also looked at the window. “You want to know if I flew in?”

  I was afraid to hear the answer, but asked anyway. “Did you?”

  She smiled wide. There were no fangs. “You’re asking if I turned into a bat?” She shook her head. “No. I mean, I can, but that’s not how I got in.” She grabbed my hand. “Do you want to see?”

  Her touch was soft. Warm. “What are you going to do?”

  She looked into my eyes. “Trust me.” It came out more like a command than a request.

  “I do.”

  She smiled, only this time the fangs were out.

  I tried to pull my hand back. “Uh, maybe this isn’t—”

  It was too late.

  Little by little, a foggy mist started to surround us. My body tingled. A lot. It started at my feet and worked its way up. Everything felt like when I slept on my arm and the blood slowly started circulating again. The fog grew thicker and thicker. There was a musty smell. Soon, it was everywhere. I couldn’t see anything else in my room.

  “Relax, Devin.” Lily’s voice cut through the haze. But I couldn’t tell what direction it was coming from.

  Through it all, though, I felt her grip on my hand. She didn’t let go.

  I couldn’t tell how long it lasted but soon everything started to clear.

  I blinked a couple of times to let my eyes adjust.

  The cool air hit me. Finally, everything came back into focus, and I saw … stars?

  I looked around and saw all the rooftops and trees of the neighborhood.

  I clutched Lily’s arm. “Where are we?”

  “Don’t you recognize the area?” Lily asked. “We’re on your roof.”

  I glanced down and saw my feet planted o
n two shingles on the sloped part of my house.

  I tried to scramble up, but my feet gave out from under me.

  Before I could fall, Lily yanked me up.

  “Careful,” she said.

  I squeezed her arm tighter. “How’d you do that?”

  “I told you. Vampires have a whole bunch of cool tricks.” She sat and motioned for me to do the same.

  I slowly inched downward, trying to keep my balance. It didn’t help matters that I kept peeking down to see how high up we were. Finally, I managed to ease myself down next to her. I could swear my heartbeat was echoing through the night. I stared out across a sea of rooftops. Nearby was the top of the tree outside my window. “I’ve never been up here before.”

  She looked out over the town. “Isn’t it beautiful?”

  I took another peek down. “Is this safe?”

  “When you’re with me, you are. Don’t worry, I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  A breeze blew across our faces.

  Lily reached up and swiped the hair from her eyes. I stared into them. They were dark. I could feel myself getting lost in them. She smiled and squeezed my hand. A jolt of warmth shot through me.

  “Am I what you thought a vampire would be like?” she asked.

  “To be honest, I never really thought about it. I didn’t think you guys were real.”

  “We’re real. Actually, there are a lot of us. Not what you see in the movies, right?”

  “No.” I thought a moment. “But someone did bite Abby.”

  Lily frowned. “I’m not saying that all vampires are good. There are definitely bad ones too. Trust me, there are a few in my school. And if you think mean girls are bad in regular schools, wait until you see mean girl vampires.”

  “Do you think one of them could’ve bitten Abby?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess it’s possible. There are a couple who don’t like me.”

  “Why wouldn’t they like you?”

  “I’m the principal’s daughter. There’s always going to be resentment with that. What bothers me, though, if someone bit your sister that means they’ve been spying on me. Because how else would they even know about you?”

  “So what do we do?”

  “We’ll have to find out who did it first.”

  “And how are we going to do that?”