"Raven?" he said cautiously.
"Yes?"
"Would you like me to…"
"Yes? Yes?"
"Would you like me to…invite you again, or would you rather sneak back in?"
"I'd love to be invited," I answered, waiting. If he kissed me now, we'd be bonded for all eternity.
"Wonderful then. I'll call you." He kissed me softly on the cheek. The cheek? Still, it was softer and more romantic than the time Jack Patterson had kissed me outside the Mansion, and much more romantic than Trevor pushing me against a tree. And as much as I wanted a real kiss—a vampire kiss—he was changing me. I was transforming into a swooning noodle-legged, goopy, googly-eyed, drippy marshmallow girl.
I could still feel his lovely, full lips against my face as I drove home. My body tingled all over with excitement, longing, passion—feelings I had never felt about a guy before. And as I scratched the bite that wasn't his, I could only hope I wouldn't turn into a blood-sucking mosquito.
"Dad's explaining to Becky the rules of blackjack," Billy whispered anxiously, as I ran through the door. "He's already told her about every casino and the history of Siegfried and Roy. He's running out of hotels on the strip!"
I whispered, "Thanks," to Becky and quickly grabbed the phone.
"Becky loves to talk," my dad began. "I had no idea she was so fascinated with Las Vegas. Next time I'll bring her. She tells me you guys have been watching vampire movies all evening."
"Yeah…"
"Revenge of Dracula for the fiftieth time?"
"No. It's a new one. It's called Vampire Kisses."
"Is it good?"
"I give it two thumbs up!"
16 Chocolate-and-Vanilla Swirl
Becky and I were eating ice-cream cones— Vanilla Royale and Chocolate Attack—outside Shirley's Bakery the next day.
"Alexander's the dreamiest! I can still feel his lips tingling against my cheek," I said. "Becky, for the first time I don't want to run away from this town, 'cause at the top of Benson Hill lives my Gothic dream guy. I can't stop thinking about him. I only wish you'd met him, too, then you'd know how spectacular he is!"
Suddenly a red Camaro pulled up.
"Matt saw Becky's truck parked outside Freaky Mansion last night," Trevor proclaimed in his ornery way as he sauntered over. He stared into Becky's face and asked, "Trying to spray paint the Mansion, Igor?"
"No," I defended, smiling, still thinking about last night. I wasn't going to let Trevor spoil my wonderful mood.
"So you weren't up to trouble, Werewolf Girl?" Trevor asked, continuing to stare at Becky.
Becky looked scared.
"Let's go, Trev," Matt said.
"We'd love to chat with you lovely gentlemen, but we're in the middle of a corporate meeting," I told him. "So you'll have to leave a message with my secretary."
"Is Shirley putting Prozac in her ice cream now?" Trevor said, laughing. "I don't think you'd know what a gentleman was if he bit you on the neck!"
I continued to lick the edge of my cone.
"Or was it you up there?" Trevor guessed. "You're always up to trouble."
"Maybe it was Becky's parents; it's their truck. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out."
"I just thought that maybe you and Becky were dating the Osbournes! Oh, I forgot, he just bites the heads off bats—he doesn't turn into them."
"I think I hear your mother calling," I said.
"They're just like you, you know, miserably pale, and social outcasts. They haven't even tried to join the country club yet. But then again we don't accept vampires."
"Vampires?" I laughed uneasily. "Who says that?"
"Everyone, pinhead! The Sterling vampires. The dude hangs out in the cemetery. But I think they're just escaped lunatics like you. They're total freaks."
"C'mon, Trev, let's get out of here already. We've got practice," Matt said.
"Now I see who wears the pants in your relationship," I said. "But I forgot, your pants wound up on my locker."
Trevor grabbed the cone from my hand.
"Hey, give it back!" I shouted. Trevor had managed to spoil my blissful mood after all.
He took a huge lick.
"Great, now it has disgusting snob germs. You can keep it," I said.
"Baby, it had germs the moment you looked at it."
"Let's go, Becky," I said, tugging her arm.
"Leaving so soon?"
"I thought I was done with you!" I shouted.
"Done? You're always trying to break my heart, aren't you? Does this mean our engagement is off?"
"Let's go, Trev," Matt said. "We've got things to do."
"You know you love this, Monster Girl. If it wasn't for me, no one would pay attention to you."
"And I'd be the luckiest girl in the world."
"I'll see you in the car," Matt impatiently told Trevor.
"I'll be right there," Trevor replied, then leaned into me. "If you want to be the luckiest girl in the world, you'll go with me to the Snow Ball."
Trevor was asking me to a dance? And of all dances, the Snow Ball? The big school dance where plastic icicles and snowflakes hung from the gym rafters, and fake snow covered the gym floor? He'd show up with me on his arm in front of all his friends? The soccer snobs and the hundred-dollar-haircut girls? It had to be a big joke. I'd be gussied up, waiting at my house, and he'd stand me up, or he'd dump a bucket of red goo on me like in Carrie. But even if he was serious, even if by some miracle Trevor really did like me, I couldn't go to the ball with him. Not now that I had met Alexander Sterling.
"It'll be a night you'll never forget," he said seductively.
"I'm sure it will, but I don't want to have nightmares for the rest of my life."
"Just can't tear yourself away from Nick at Nite."
"No. I'm already going."
Trevor sneered. "Stag? Or with an inflatable doll?"
"I have a date."
Becky gasped, but she and Trevor weren't the only ones surprised by my rash words.
"In your dreams! I was only asking you out of pity. No one else would show up with you, unless he was dead."
"Well, we'll just see about that, won't we?"
"I'm leaving," Matt shouted from the car. "Are you coming?"
"Thanks for the ice cream, psycho," Trevor said, getting into the Camaro. "But next time remember, I prefer Rocky Road."
I watched my double-dip Chocolate Attack screech away.
"I'd offer you mine, but I know you don't like pure vanilla," Becky said consolingly.
"Thanks, but I have bigger things than ice cream to worry about. Like getting a date!"
Every time the phone rang, my heart jumped. Was it Alexander? And when it wasn't him my heart would break into a million pieces. It had been two long days since I had seen my Gothic mate. I was so preoccupied with Alexander, dreaming of the next time we'd be together, nothing else mattered. I didn't wash the spot where his tender love lips had pressed against my flesh. I was acting like I was straight out of a Gidget movie! What had happened to me? I was losing my edge! For the first time in my life I was really afraid. Afraid of never seeing him again and afraid of being rejected.
If I asked Alexander to the dance, he might freak out. He might say, "With you?" or "No way, not a lame, school dance. I'm so beyond that! And I thought you were, too."
I was beyond that, even though I'd never gone to any dances to actually get beyond them. I wouldn't be going to homecoming or the prom or any of the other dances scheduled throughout the school year. I would stay home with Becky and watch the Munsters on TV. But Trevor's challenge had forced me to fight back, with a weapon that I didn't even have: Alexander.
This feeling of not being able to eat or sleep was new to me. To hang my heart on every ring of the phone, to scream at the top of my lungs for Billy Boy not to tie up the line with his addictive web surfing, not to be able to watch Nosferatu without crying, or to listen to a silly, sappy, drippy, lovesick Ce
line Dion song without thinking she had written it just for me—I wanted it all to go away.
I think some people call this love. I called it hell.
And then it happened. After two long, torture-filled days. When the phone rang, I thought it was for Billy Boy, and when Billy Boy called my name, I thought it was Becky. I was ready to pour my heart out to her. But before I could speak, I heard his dreamy voice.
"I couldn't wait any longer," he said.
"Excuse me?" I asked, surprised.
"It's Alexander. I know guys aren't supposed to call right away. But I couldn't wait any longer."
"That's a stupid rule. I could have moved."
"In two days?"
"It was only two days?"
He laughed. "It seemed a year for me."
His comment was like a love letter sent straight to my heart.
I waited for him to go on, but there was silence. He said nothing more. This was the perfect chance to invite him to the Snow Ball. The worst he could do was hang up. My hands were shaking and my confidence was oozing out with my perspiration. "Alexander…um…I have something to ask you."
"I do, too."
"Well, you first."
"No, ladies first."
"No, guys are supposed to do the asking."
"You're fight." There was silence. "Well…would you like to go out? Tomorrow night?"
I smiled with delight! "Go out? Yeah, that would be great!"
"So what were you going to ask me?"
I paused. I can do this! I took a deep breath. "Would you…"
"Yes?"
"Do you…"
"Do I what?"
"Like to dance?"
"Yeah, but I didn't think this town had any hip clubs. You know of one?"
"No…but when I find one, I'll let you know." I was such a wimpola!
"Great! Then I'll see you tomorrow at my house, after sundown."
"After sundown?"
"You said you lived for the darkness. So do I."
"You remembered."
"I remember everything," he said, and hung up the phone.
17 Dream Date
My first date! Becky said my first date was dinner at the Mansion, but I didn't agree. Tonight we would be going out: to watch a movie, to play miniature golf, to share a soda at Shirley's. I spent all afternoon talking with Becky, speculating about where he'd take me, what he'd be wearing, and when he would kiss me.
I was so excited, I ran the whole way there. I had to meet Alexander at his iron gate. My mom would have freaked if she had known I had a date with the guy who lived in a haunted house. I couldn't bear the thought of his showing up at my door and my dad's asking him questions about tennis players and his plans for college. So I had to meet my Romeo on his balcony.
And there he was, leaning against the iron gate, sexy in his black jeans and black leather jacket, holding a backpack.
"Are we going on a hike?" I asked.
"No, a picnic."
"At this hour?"
"Is there a better time?"
I shook my head, with a smile.
I had no idea where Alexander would take me, but I could imagine the response from our fellow Dullsvillians.
"Doesn't this bother you?" I asked, pointing to the graffiti.
Alexander shrugged. "Jameson wanted to paint over it, but I wouldn't let him. One man's graffiti is another man's masterpiece." He took my hand and led me down the street without any hints of our plans for the night. And I didn't care where we were going, just as long as it was a million miles away and he never let go.
We stopped at Dullsville's cemetery.
"Here we are," he said.
I had never been taken out on a date, much less a date to a cemetery. Dullsville's cemetery dated from the early 1800s. I'm sure Dullsville was much more exciting as a pioneer town—tiny dress shops, saloons, traders, gamblers, and those Victorian lace-up boots that were totally in.
"Do you bring all your dates here?" I asked.
"Are you afraid?" he asked.
"I used to play here as a child. But during the day."
"This cemetery is probably the most lively place in town."
The rumors were true. Alexander did come to the cemetery in the dark.
The creepy gate was locked to ensure uneasy access for Dullsville's vandals.
"We'll have to climb," he said. "But I know how you like climbing gates."
"We can get in trouble for this," I pointed out.
"But it's okay to sneak into houses, right?" he asked. "Don't worry. I know one of the people."
Dead? Alive? A corpse? Maybe a cousin of Jameson's worked the graveyard shift—literally.
Alexander turned away as I struggled to get over in my tight spandex dress.
After we both dusted off, he took my hand and led me down the middle path, where gravestones were lined up for miles. Some of the grave markers signified a plague that devastated in the 1800s. Alexander walked briskly like he knew exactly where he was going.
Where was he leading me? Who did he know here? Did he sleep here? Had he brought me here to kiss me? And would I become a vampire?
I slowed down. Did I really want to be a vampire? And call this my home? For all eternity?
I tripped over the handle of a shovel, which sent me tumbling forward. I started to fall into an empty grave. Alexander grabbed my arm in the nick of time.
I hung over the empty grave, staring down into the darkness.
"Don't be afraid. It doesn't have your name on it," Alexander joked.
"I think I'm supposed to be home," I said nervously, brushing graveyard dirt off my dress.
But he led me further into the cemetery with his strong hand.
Suddenly we were standing atop a small hill beneath a giant marble monument.
He picked up some fresh daffodils that had blown away and replaced them tenderly at the foot of Baroness Sterling's monument.
"I'd like you to meet someone," he said, looking at me gently and then at the grave. "Grandma, this is Raven."
I didn't know what to say as I stared at the marker. I had never met a dead person before. What was I supposed to say—"She looks just like you"?
But of course, he didn't expect me to say anything as he sat down on the grass and drew me next to him.
"Grandma used to live here—I mean in town. She left us the house and we finally got it after years of probate. I always loved the Mansion."
"Wow. The baroness was your grandmother?"
"I visit her when I feel lonely. She understood what it felt like to be alone. She didn't fit in with the Sterling side of the family. Grandpa died in the war. She said I always reminded her of him." He took a deep breath and looked up at the stars. "It's beautiful here, don't you think?" he went on. "There aren't many lights to block out the stars. It's like the universe is a huge canvas, with sprinkles of light that twinkle and glisten, like a painting that is always there, just waiting to be looked at. But people don't notice it because they're too busy. And it's the most beautiful work of all. Well, almost—"
We were silent for a few minutes, gazing at the heavens. I heard only his soft breath and the sound of crickets. All first dates should be as wonderful as this. It totally beat a first-run movie.
"So your grandma's the lady that stared out the wind—uh, I mean she, well…"
"She was a wonderful artist. She taught me how to paint superheroes and monsters. Lots of monsters!"
"I know."
"You know?"
"I mean, I know it must be hard for you. But I like vampires, too!" I hinted.
He seemed to be thinking of something else. "I traveled so much, and since I was homeschooled, I never had the chance to fit in anywhere."
He looked so lost, so soulful, so lonely. I wanted him to kiss me now. I wanted to let him know I was his for all eternity.
"Let's eat," he suddenly said, climbing to his feet.
He placed five black candles in ornate votive holders and lit them w
ith an antique lighter. He unpacked a bottle of sparkling juice and crackers and cheese and spread a black lace tablecloth over the cold grass.
"Have you ever been in love?" I asked as he filled my crystal goblet.
Suddenly we heard a howl and the candles blew out.
"What was that?" I asked.
"I think it's a dog."
"It sounds more like a wolf!"
"Either way, we'd better go!" he said urgently.
I started to shove everything into his backpack.
"We don't have time for that!" he said, grabbing my hand.
The wind continued to howl. The noise was getting closer.
We hid behind the monument.
"If it's a ghost you've come to see," a familiar voice called to us, "I can assure you that the only ghost you'll be seeing tonight is your own."
A man followed with a flashlight. It was Old Jim, the caretaker, with Luke, his Great Dane.
If he recognized me here at this hour I'd have to bribe him with a year's supply of dog biscuits to keep him from telling my parents.
We peeked out and could see the dog licking juice off the grass.
"Give me that, Luke," Old Jim said and picked up the bottle. He took a long swig.
"Now!" Alexander whispered. He tightened his grip on my hand and we ran, scampering over the fence.
I don't think a real ghost and a phantom wolf could have scared me more than Old Jim and his rusty Luke.
"I guess I should have taken you to a movie after all," Alexander said with a smile after we caught our breath. "I'll walk you home."
"Can we go to your house?" I pleaded. "I want to see your room!"
"You can't see my room."
"We have time."
"No way."
There was an edginess in his voice I hadn't heard before.
"What's in your room, Alexander?"
"What's in your room, Raven?" he asked, glaring at me. "Let's go back to your place."
"Uh…well…" He was right. I couldn't bring him into my house and subject him to Billy Boy and my white-bread parents. Not on our first date. "My room's a mess."
"Well, mine is, too," he said.
"I don't have to go home, really."
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