I peered out the passenger-side window, out into the distance. In the darkness, a white billowy haze hung over the desolate fields.
Alexander pulled off onto a dirt road. I could barely see anything in front of us. The car bumped along the unmarked path. We were surrounded by darkness and a fog-covered meadow.
“How can you even see where we are?” I asked.
Alexander seemed confident. He stopped the car and shifted the gear into park.
“I thought we could take a moment to enjoy something new,” he said as we got out of the Mercedes.
Alexander grabbed his backpack from the trunk and threw it over his shoulder. He held my hand and gave me a flashlight.
Together we walked through the meadow, pushing the tall grass out of our way.
In the darkness, I could barely make out what appeared to be a hill until Alexander had me shine the flashlight in its direction.
The hill had a huge opening. It was a cave.
“I thought this was just an urban legend!” I exclaimed. I felt as if we were explorers discovering a new land.
“I’ve heard that as a club initiation kids spend the night here, never to return,” I gossiped. “But I never knew it really existed.”
I held on to Alexander’s belt and followed him into the cave. He could see where he was going in the dark, but he thoughtfully took the flashlight and illuminated the way for me.
We entered the monster-sized mouth of the cave, with its damp, musty scent and distinctive chilly air. The rocky floor was wet, and Alexander steered me clear of any protruding edges. I ran my hand along the side of the cave. Some areas were smooth, some were bumpy and riddled with cavities, while others were covered with moss.
As Alexander led me deeper into the cave, I could hear the faint and soothing sounds of trickling water. When he shined his light above us, an enormous ceiling dripping with stalactites, hanging like gigantic vampire fangs, was revealed.
Alexander led me to a dry spot and passed me the flashlight. I watched as he opened the backpack, pulled out candles, and placed them around us. One by one he lit them, encircling us with candlelight.
“This is the most romantic thing I’ve ever seen!” I said.
The candles cast shadows from the stalactites and stalagmites against the cave walls, making them seem twice their size. I loved it.
Alexander pulled out a few sandwiches and sodas from his bag. We drank, kissed, and laughed.
As Alexander put the wrappers in his backpack, we heard fluttering sounds above us and spotted a few bats flying overhead.
“They come in and out during the night with food,” Alexander said.
“Could Valentine have been one of those bats?”
Alexander didn’t respond.
“Tell me more about Valentine,” I asked curiously, resting back on my elbows.
“Figures. I bring a beautiful girl to a romantic candlelit cave and she wants to talk about a much younger man.”
“You’re right,” I said in a flirtatious whisper. “Let’s talk about us.”
“Let’s not talk at all,” he said in a soft voice.
Then, one by one, Alexander blew out the candles until only one remained.
He paused over the last one, staring at me with a sexy grin, shadows dancing around his handsome face. “I’m making a wish.”
“It only comes true on a birthday cake. Besides, you’ll be able to see and I won’t. It’s not fair.”
“I’ll close my eyes, I promise.”
“Not so fast—”
I slid off the black lace sash I was wearing as a belt and loosely tied it around his head, gently covering his eyes. “Now we are equal.”
Alexander blew out the last candle.
We were in total darkness. I couldn’t see Alexander, the mouth of the cave, or even my own fingers.
Alexander kissed the back of my hand, slowly pecking his way up my arm until he reached my neck.
I paused. “What is the surprise?” I asked. “Are we on sacred ground?”
“Want to find out?” he asked. “Wait one minute.”
A surprise, I thought. What could it be?
I felt a warm grasp on my neck.
It was then that I knew. My fantasy was finally coming true. Alexander was going to bite me.
My heart began to pulse against the flesh of his palm. I started to visualize my new life as his hand lay on my most vital of veins.
My dream was to become a vampire, for Alexander to be the one who turned me and be the one to whom I’d be bonded for eternity. But as he held my neck, I suddenly wasn’t sure if I was ready to plunge myself into the darkness forever. Thoughts of my parents flooded through me. It was one thing to be an outcast in my own family because I was a Goth. It would be quite another to be an outcast because I was no longer a mortal. I wouldn’t be included in family photos, or far worse, I might not be able to see them again in order to keep my new identity a secret. My heart began to race so hard, it almost hurt. It was as if Alexander could feel my soul with his palm. I didn’t feel comforted, even by his warm touch.
I’d envisioned an elaborate and gloomy gothic covenant ceremony in Dullsville’s cemetery underneath the crystal moonlight, an antique candelabra and a pewter goblet atop a closed coffin, my gorgeous vampire-mate awaiting me by the medieval altar. I’d be holding a bouquet of dead roses and wearing a morbidly black sexy lace dress, which would flow behind me as I walked between the tombstones. We’d join hands and toast to our union, and when I was ready, Alexander would kiss me on the neck.
I hadn’t envisioned it this way, though, a surprise life-changing moment where I couldn’t even see what was happening.
It was as if he knew everything I was thinking—every thought I was feeling was flowing through to his hand. My blood boiled. My head began to spin and I became dizzy.
“Alexander—you are hurting my neck.”
“I’m not touching your neck,” I heard him say from a distance. “I’m trying to find my backpack.”
I gasped. It seemed as if time stood still.
If Alexander wasn’t holding my neck, who was?
My dizzy mind was jolted back to reality. “Get off!” I cried. “Let go!”
I flailed my arms and kicked my legs, whacking something or someone. I could hear a stumbling and then a thud.
“Alexander,” I called. “We’re not alone!”
Who knew who could be lurking in the cavern with us. Maybe as a joke, Trevor had followed us. Or worse, a group of juvies or derelicts were hanging out in the cave. How could a vampire and his mortal girlfriend fend off a gang of sauced-up criminals or delinquent teens defending their turf?
My mind and heart raced. I could barely breathe.
“Alexander—where are you? I can’t see!” I continued to flail about but made contact only with the air.
Just then I saw a flash of light. Alexander was before me, his hair messy from removing his blindfold, the flashlight in one hand and my sash in the other. I ran over to my boyfriend and hid behind his back. I grabbed the flashlight, as much to use as a weapon as a source of illumination.
My heart continued to beat as if it were going to jump out of my chest. I shined the light around us. I didn’t see anyone. We were alone.
I heard a fluttering sound. Alexander pointed above me. I fixed the light on a single bat hovering over me, his green eyes piercing my soul.
“Alexander—”
Suddenly the bat flew toward the mouth of the cave.
My boyfriend and I quickly chased after the winged creature, back through the cave, carefully running over the slippery rock floor.
By the time we reached the opening, the bat was gone.
On the ground, at the entrance of the cave, something shimmered in the moonlight. Alexander picked up the shining object in his pale hand.
It was an empty amulet.
9
Prom Princess
The following morning, before first bell, Becky and
I were hanging out in the main office. I was sitting cross-legged in the secretary’s chair, nursing a Styrofoam cup of store-bought java, while Becky was eagerly copying valentines for prom.
My once super-silent, shadowy best friend had been selected from the Prom Decorating Committee list to volunteer her time. For some reason, she was volunteering my time too.
“We need at least a hundred more,” she said, retrieving a stack of pink hearts from the copy tray before they overflowed and handing them to me.
“A hundred?” I whined.
“And then we have to cut them.”
“This is the first time I’m actually looking forward to first bell ringing,” I said, gazing up at the sluggish office clock.
Every flash of the copier was like lightning striking my already aching head.
“Why are you so tired?” Becky asked. “Did you and Alexander stay out too late on a school night?”
I couldn’t reveal to even my best friend the true reason I was exhausted. It wasn’t because Alexander and I had had a romantic late evening but rather because I’d tossed and turned all night, thinking about the harrowing events in the cave.
I was conflicted. First of all, had the strange hand on my neck really been Valentine’s? I was still uncertain who, or what, had been in the cave with us. And if it had been Jagger’s sibling, I could have been moments away from being attacked by a vampire. Secondly, when I thought it was my own vampire boyfriend who was going to bite me, I didn’t react the way I’d thought I would. Instead, I panicked. I guess I wasn’t as ready as I’d led myself to believe.
Either way, Alexander’s surprise and the romantic interlude in a candlelit cave were spoiled. “I’ll save it for another time,” was all he said when he drove me home.
“I didn’t sleep,” I finally admitted to Becky. “I’m always keyed up after a date with Alexander.”
“Isn’t this awesome?” she said with a bright smile. “Not only are we going to prom, but we’re helping with the decorations. Who knew?”
How could I get excited about paper hearts when my own real one was throbbing so hard? The most important dance of the year had been miles away from my thoughts. Instead, I was preoccupied with Valentine’s whereabouts.
Jennifer Warren, the snarky varsity cheerleader who had snagged my prom dress right in front of my charcoal-stained eyes, strolled through the office door in a red and white pleated skirt and matching shell uniform, her blond ponytail bouncing along after her. She greeted the office workers and marched straight in our direction.
Jennifer was best friends with Heather Ryan, the Prada shoe snob. I figured the two teen fashionistas had conversed, but I hoped it was too early in the morning for another confrontation about designer pumps.
Jennifer ignored me and addressed Becky. “Are you the one who volunteered to make the prom valentines?”
Becky straightened up like a ballerina. Her eyes lit up and her face flushed apple red, as if she had just been greeted by the Queen of England. At any moment, I was ready for my best friend to curtsy.
“My name is Becky,” she said, ignoring the copy machine behind her.
Jenny brandished a sparkling smile. “I see you’ve made a lot of progress already,” she remarked, genuinely delighted. “I didn’t think you’d start making them until tomorrow.”
“Becky is the early worm personified,” I complimented.
Jenny posed like a pop star, the flashing copier as her paparazzi. “I always use the best,” she said, proud of her new disciple.
Becky beamed as if she’d been chosen for Prom Queen rather than selected to make Xeroxes for a dance.
However, it was clear to me why my best friend was really smiling. Not only was Becky dating Matt Wells, a soccer player, but she was fitting in with cheerleaders and the student body. I was surprised at how easily the once-shy Becky was accepted by the “in” crowd, while I remained solo in the “out” crowd.
“And Raven is helping too,” Becky added gleefully.
Jenny looked at me as if I were mud she’d discovered underneath her bright white cheerleading sneakers on a rainy game day. “Uh…let me have those,” Jenny said, taking the stack from my hands. “I’ll start cutting them in study hall.”
That was my contribution to the decorating of prom—holding copied valentines for all of ten seconds.
That night, Billy Boy and Henry were locked safely away in my brother’s room doing research on the Internet for their Project Vampire. Meanwhile, in my room, Alexander patiently quizzed me on ancient Greece.
I don’t know which made it more difficult to study—Alexander’s presence or being preoccupied with Valentine’s motives and location.
Obviously, Alexander, too, was concerned about Valentine’s location and motives, as I frequently caught him peering out the window.
When I suggested we put down my homework and return to the cave, Alexander was firm. “It is best that you and Billy stay inside for a night or two while I figure some things out.”
Alexander occasionally gave me stolen kisses before he returned to glancing out the window, and I pretended to be buried in my textbook.
10
Sleepover
After an arduous day of quizzes, homework hand-ins, and boring lectures, eighth bell rang. I met Becky by our lockers and, after Matt gave her a quick peck before soccer practice, we were off to her house for a prom fashion show.
Becky resided on what many of the snotty Dullsvillians called the “wrong side of the tracks.” I, however, thought she had primo real estate. Becky’s backyard was twice the size of Trevor’s and sported sweet apple trees instead of unused Jacuzzis.
Her farmhouse, built in the 1930s, was the original house her father grew up in. In back of the house, next to the five-acre apple orchard, stood a monstrous silo with vines clinging to it like a giant spiderweb. Adjacent to that sat a red barn filled with tools and a loft suitable for telling ghost stories.
Becky’s house was also steeped in character, something lacking in many of the “right side of the trackers’” houses, including mine. The wooden house was pale yellow with hunter green shutters. It had screen doors and a stellar wraparound porch with an old-fashioned porch swing. Though some of the appliances had been updated, the original yellow flowered wallpaper from her father’s youth remained. A round vinyl booth instead of the typical dinette table and chairs was sandwiched in a kitchen alcove. Black-and-white tiles lined the upstairs bathroom walls and floors. Glass doorknobs glistened on all the doors, instead of brass or pewter ones, and hardwood floors ran throughout the first floor.
We walked up the squeaky wooden staircase to her bedroom. One wall was slanted, making it feel as if her movie star posters were going to reach out and kiss you.
Becky pulled out a wedge that kept her closet door shut. Depending on the weather, the door buckled and wouldn’t remain closed, which provided hours of fun for us when we were kids, imagining her room was haunted. She took out a garment bag, unzipping it to reveal a vintage floor-length blue strapless gown.
“It’s gorgeous!” I exclaimed.
I searched through Becky’s jewelry box while she tried on her dress.
My best friend had transformed into a princess right in front of my eyes. “You look beautiful. Matt is going to drop dead when he sees you.”
“You think?”
“I know,” I corrected.
“Should I wear my hair up in a twist?” she asked, pulling her layered locks off her neck.
“I don’t know much about hair,” I said. “If it were me, I’d streak it blue to match the dress. But I think the way you have it up looks fabulous.”
For the next hour we finalized her jewelry selection (faux pearl earrings and matching necklace) and shades of makeup (coral blush, passion pink lipstick with matching gloss, and indigo blue eye shadow).
Becky and I were starving, so on the drive to my home, we stopped off at Hatsy’s Diner, where we stuffed our faces with cheese fries and Vanil
la Cokes and talked nonstop about our heartthrobs. Since my best friend and I had acquired boyfriends, we hadn’t had the time to be as glued to each other as we had been in the past. Now that we had recharged our batteries, we got in some major girl time and gossiped for hours. She finally dropped me off after sunset.
I opened the front door to find the first floor empty of family members and the phone ringing.
“I’ll get it,” I hollered.
I dropped my backpack on the kitchen counter and picked up the phone. “Hello?”
“Raven,” Alexander said from the other end. My name rolled off his tongue like smooth chocolate dairy soft serve being licked off a spoon. “How was your day?”
“Same as every day—dreadful until sunset,” I replied.
The only thing that kept me going through the day was knowing that atop Benson Hill was the handsomest guy I’d ever seen, my very own vampire-mate, sleeping in a coffin in the dusty attic of a creepy old mansion.
“Should I meet you at the Mansion or are you going to pick me up?” I asked eagerly.
There was silence on Alexander’s end.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I hate to do this to you…,” he said, his voice suddenly serious, “but I have to cancel tonight.”
“Cancel?” It hit me like a closing coffin lid. “What’s wrong?”
“Jameson has the car…and I want to check out the cave and cemetery for Valentine.”
“I can ask my mom to drop me off instead.”
“I want to do it alone,” Alexander said in a grave tone.
“Alone?”
Alexander didn’t respond. I knew he didn’t want to put me in harm’s way again, but that didn’t mean I had to like it.
Not only would I be missing a nocturnal adventure, I’d be missing precious time with Alexander. It was bad enough I had to be away from Alexander in the sunlight; I couldn’t face being away from him in the moonlight, too.
“I’ll make it up to you,” he said in a bright voice. “I still haven’t given you the surprise I was going to give you at the cave.”
Dance With a Vampire Page 6
