Vampire Kisses vk-1

by Эллен Шрайбер

  She prepared herself for my fury, but instead I smiled and said, "I'm glad you have such a good memory. Whose idea was this welcome party?" I wondered.

  Becky glanced toward the front steps.

  Out of the corner of my eye I noticed two trendy honeymooners holding hands.

  "Oh, there she is," I heard the hipster man say.

  It was my parents! My mom was in black bell-bottoms, black platform sandals, and a silky black shirt, with a string of red love beads around her neck. My dad was wearing black-rimmed John Lennon glasses and had squeezed his body into black Levi's and a black silk shirt unbuttoned halfway.

  "Are you on drugs?" I wondered aloud, astonished.

  "Hi, honey," my mom said. "We had to do something to get you out of bed."

  My dad laughed and two young kids in Dracula outfits came whizzing by. One extended his cape with his hands and pretended to fly toward me.

  "I've come to suck your blood!" It was Billy Boy.

  "You look divine! You're the cutest vampire I've ever seen," I said.

  "Really? Then I'm going to wear this to school on Monday."

  "Oh, no, you're not," my dad scolded. "One radical in the family is more than I can handle."

  My father looked at my mother for help. Billy winked at me and flew off.

  Jameson stepped out of the Mansion holding a black jacket.

  "Here is your sports coat, Mr. Madison," he said, handing the jacket to my dad. "The boy wouldn't let it go. Something about your daughter's perfume."

  I was totally embarrassed, but I melted inside.

  "It's good to see you, Miss Raven."

  I wanted to see Alexander. I wanted to see him right then. I wanted to see his face, his hair, his eyes. I wanted to see if he still looked the same, if he still felt our deep love connection. Or if he thought it was all a lie.

  As if he could read my thoughts, Jameson said, "Won't you come in?"

  I walked inside, thankful that the reunion— or the blowout—would be a private one. It was quiet inside, no music pulsing from the attic, and dark, with only a few candles lighting the way. I checked the living room, the dining room, the kitchen and the hallway. I climbed the grand staircase.

  "Alexander?" I whispered. "Alexander?"

  My heart was pounding and my mind frenetic. I peeked in the bathrooms, the library, the master bedroom.

  I heard voices from the TV room.

  Renfield was ratting to the doctor about Count Dracula. It was during this scene that Alexander had kissed me and I had fainted. I sat on the couch and watched impatiently for a minute, expecting him to return. But I grew anxious and wandered back out to the hallway.

  "Alexander?"

  I looked at the faded red-carpeted staircase leading to the attic. His staircase!

  The door at the top of his squeaky stairs was closed. His door. His room. The room he wouldn't let me see. I gently knocked on the door.

  No answer. "Alexander?" I knocked again. "It's me, Raven. Alexander?"

  Behind that door was his world. The world I had never seen. The world that had all the answers to all his mysteries—how he spent his days, how he spent his nights. I twisted the knob, and the door creaked slightly open. It wasn't locked. I wanted more than anything to push it open. To snoop. But then I thought. This is how the trouble began: with my snooping. Haven't I learned anything? So I took a deep breath and acted against my impulse. I shut the door and hurried down the creaky attic stairs and the grand staircase with a new confidence. I paused at the open front door, and feeling a familiar presence once again, I turned around.

  There he stood, like a Knight of the Night, looking straight at me with those dark, deep, lovely, calming, lonely, adoring, intelligent, dreamy, soulful eyes.

  "I never meant to hurt you," I blurted out. "I'm not what Trevor said. I've always liked you, for who you are!"

  Alexander didn't speak.

  "I was so stupid. You're the most interesting thing that's ever happened in Dullsville. You must think I'm so childish."

  He still didn't speak a word.

  "Say something. Say I was totally third grade. Say you hate me."

  "I know we are more similar than different."

  "You do?" I asked, surprised.

  "My grandma told me."

  "She speaks to you?" I said, feeling a sudden chill.

  "No, she's dead, silly! I saw the flowers."

  He reached his hand for mine. "There's something I want to show you," he said mysteriously.

  "Your room?" I asked, grabbing his hand.

  "Yes, and something in my room. It's finally ready."

  "It?" My imagination ran wild. What did Alexander do up in his room? Was "it" alive or dead?

  He led me up the grand staircase and the creaky attic stairs. His stairs.

  "It's time you knew my secrets," he said, opening the door. "Or at least most of them."

  It was dark except for the moonlight that shone through the tiny attic window. A beat-up, comfy chair and a twin-sized mattress rested on the floor. A strewn black comforter exposed maroon sheets. A bed like any other teenager's. Not a coffin. And then I noticed the paintings. Big Ben with bats flying over the clock face, a castle on a hill, the Eiffel Tower upside down. There was a dark painting of an older couple in gothic outfits with a huge red heart around them. There was Dullsville's cemetery, his grandma smiling above her gravestone. A picture drawn from his attic window with trick-or-treaters everywhere. "Those are from my dark period," he joked.

  "They're spectacular," I said, stepping closer.

  Paint was everywhere, even splattered on the floor.

  "You're totally awesome!"

  "I wasn't sure you'd like them."

  "They're unbelievable!"

  I noticed a canvas covered with a sheet on an easel in the corner.

  "Don't worry, it won't bite."

  I paused before it, wondering what lay beneath the sheet. And for once my imagination failed me. I took a corner of the sheet and slowly peeled it back, just like when I had uncovered the mirror in Alexander's basement. I was stunned.

  I was staring at myself, dressed for the Snow Ball, a red rose corsage pinned to my dress. But I carried a pumpkin basket over my arm and held a Snickers in one hand while on the other I wore a spider ring. Stars twinkled overhead and snow fell lightly around me. I grinned wonderfully through glistening fake vampire teeth.

  "It looks just like me! I never imagined you were an artist! I mean I knew you did those drawings in the basement and then the paint on the side of the road…I had no idea."

  "That was you?" he asked, reflecting.

  "Why were you standing in the middle of the road?"

  "I was going to the cemetery to paint this picture of my grandmother's monument."

  "Don't most painters use little tubes?"

  "I mix my own."

  "I had no idea. You're an artist. Now it all makes sense. "

  "I'm glad you like it," he said with relief. "We better get back to the party before we give them something to really gossip about."

  "I guess you're right. You know how rumors spread in this town."

  "Isn't it weird?" he asked, handing me a soda, back on the lawn after we'd mingled among the darkened Dullsvillians. "We're not the outcasts tonight."

  "Let's enjoy it now. It'll all be back to normal tomorrow."

  The party goers were smiling and having fun.

  But then I noticed a figure in the distance slowly running up the driveway.

  "Trevor!" I said, with a gasp. "What's he doing here?"

  "He's a monster!" he yelled, approaching the party. "His whole family."

  "Not this again!" I said.

  All eyes were on Trevor.

  "Alexander, go back inside," I urged. But he didn't move.

  "He hangs out in the cemetery for freakin' sake!" Trevor said, pointing to my Gothic Mate. "There were no bats in this town before he came!" he shouted.

  "And there weren't losers in this
town before you came!" I said.

  "Raven, calm down," my father admonished sternly.

  "Enough of this!" Matt said, bursting forth, with Jack Patterson right behind him.

  "Look here! I've been attacked!" Trevor exclaimed, pointing to a scratch on his neck. "By a bat! I'm going to have to get freakin' rabies shots!"

  "Let it go, Trevor," Matt said, exhausted.

  "It happened on the way here. I'd called your house and your mom said you were partying at freak Mansion. What's up with that? You were supposed to be hanging out with me!"

  "You've done this to yourself," Matt answered. "I'm through driving you around town so you can spread your stupid rumors. You've played me long enough, Trev."

  "But I was right! They are vampires!" Trevor shouted.

  "And I was right when I didn't invite you," Matt said.

  "You guys are crazy. Partying with freaks!" Trevor argued, glaring at us all.

  "Okay, Trevor, that's enough," my father said, stepping toward him.

  "I didn't have anything to do with this," Alexander said, confused.

  "I think we know that," I confirmed.

  "But—" Trevor began, his angry eyes thirsting for blood.

  "I'd rather not have to call your father," my dad finally said, putting his hand on Trevor's shoulder.

  Trevor was fuming, but he was running out of steam. There was no one here who'd fall for his jokes, take his side, think he was wonderful for scoring a winning goal. No giggling girls who wanted to date a soccer snob or hang with him anymore because he was popular. There was nothing left for him to do but leave.

  "You just wait—my dad owns this town!" he said, as he stormed off. It was the only thing he could say.

  "Don't forget to use some ice on that," my mom advised as if she were Florence Nightingale.

  "He needs a tranquilizer gun, not ice, Mom."

  We all watched as Trevor reached the gate and was finally gone.

  "Well, we had planned on a singing telegram, but they must have gotten the instructions wrong," my dad joked. The crowd laughed with relief.

  Alexander and I hung onto each other for comfort. The children began running around, pretending to be vampires.

  Later, after Alexander had said good-bye to his neighbors, Becky found me cleaning up the refreshment table.

  "I'm sorry," she said.

  "Are you going to apologize for the rest of your life?"

  I gave her a Ruby squeeze-hug. "See you tomorrow," Becky said with tired eyes.

  "I thought your parents already left."

  "They keep farm hours, you know. Early to bed and early to rise."

  "Then who are we riding with?" I asked, confused.

  "Matt."

  "Matt!"

  She smiled an I-have-a-crush smile. "He's not as snobby as he seems."

  "I know. Who would have thought?"

  "He's never ridden on a tractor before," Becky said. "Do you think he says that to every girl?”

  “No, Becky, I think he really means it!”

  “C'mon, Becky," Matt called, just like he used to call Trevor.

  "I'll catch up in a minute," I said.

  I was helping Jameson with the last of the party trash when Alexander descended the stairs, wearing a cape, slicked-back hair, and fake vampire teeth.

  "My dream vampire," I said.

  He pulled me close in the hallway.

  "You tried to save me tonight," he said. "I will be eternally grateful."

  "Eternally," I said with a grin.

  "Hopefully someday I'll return the favor."

  I giggled as he nibbled on my neck. "I don't want to go," I whined. "But Becky is waiting. See you tomorrow?" I asked. "Same bat time? Same bat channel?"

  He walked me to the door and playfully bit me on the neck with his vampire teeth.

  I laughed and tried to pull the fake teeth out of his mouth.

  "Ouch," he exclaimed.

  "You're not supposed to Superglue them on!"

  "Raven, you don't still believe in vampires, do you?" he asked.

  "I think you've cured me of that," I answered. "But I'm going to keep the black lipstick."

  He gave me a long, heavenly good-night kiss.

  As I turned to leave, I noticed Ruby's monogrammed compact on the doorstep and picked it up. I opened it to smooth out my lipstick. I saw the Mansion's open door reflected in its glass.

  "Sweet dreams," I heard Alexander say.

  But he didn't appear in the mirror.

  I turned around. Alexander was clearly standing in the doorway.

  But when I checked the mirror again, he was gone!

  When I turned around once again, I found the serpent door knob staring me in the face. I rapped on it desperately.

  "Alexander! Alexander!"

  I backed away from the door in disbelief. I slowly retreated and stared up at the attic window. The light came on.

  "Alexander!" I called.

  He peered out from behind the ruffled curtains, my Gothic Guy, my Gothic Mate, my Gothic Prince, my Knight of the Night. Looking down at me, longingly. He touched the window with the palm of his hand. I stood motionless. As I began to reach toward him, he withdrew from the curtain and the light vanished.

  22 Deadline

  My childhood dream had come true, but it was more of a nightmare than I could have imagined. I lay awake all night, trying to make sense of it all.

  The guy I was in love with was really a vampire? Would I spend eternity as a cool ghoul?

  I didn't react to this development in the way I'd always dreamed. I didn't pick up the phone to call CNN. In fact, the whole ride home with Becky I didn't say a word, only stared out the window in disbelief as she flirted with Matt.

  At home I locked myself in my bedroom. I scoured my vampire books for answers but found none. I rehearsed telling him that I loved him, no matter who or what he was. That his secret was safe with me. But was I prepared to leave everything I knew? Trade my world for his? Leave my parents? Becky? Even Billy Boy? I stared at my reflection in the full-length mirror, as if for the last time.

  I spent the next day at the cemetery, pacing in front of the baroness's monument. As soon as the sun set behind the trees, I took off for the Mansion.

  When I came around the hill, I noticed the gate was locked. I scaled the fence to find the Mansion even more eerie and lonely than usual. The Mercedes was gone and the lights were off. I rang the bell, over and over. I rapped on the serpent knocker. No one answered. I peered through the living room window. White sheets were draped over the furniture. I ran around back and pressed my nose against the basement window. I couldn't breathe. The crates of earth were no longer there!

  My heart sank. I couldn't swallow.

  I reached for the loose brick I had formerly used to sneak in. But when I pulled on it, an envelope with my name written across it in large letters fell out.

  I raced to the front gate and held the letter under the light.

  I saw my name clearly.

  I pulled out a black card. In blood-red letters were four simple words: BECAUSE I LOVE YOU.

  I caressed the words with my fingertips and held the letter to my heart. Tears fell from my face as I wearily slunk against the Mansion gate.

  It was a stake shoved into my heart.

  Birds chirped overhead and I looked up to see them hovering over the trees. One swooped down and landed above me on the iron gate.

  It was a bat.

  Its wings remained solemnly still as it fixed its gaze upon me. Its shadow prominent on the pavement, its breath in time with mine. Bats are blind, but this one seemed to be staring right into my soul.

  I slowly reached for it. "Alexander?"

  And then it flew away.

  Reading Order

  1. Vampire Kisses

  2. Kissing Coffins

  3. Vampireville

  4. Dance with a Vampire

  5. The Coffin Club

  6. Royal Blood

  7. Love
Bites ( coming May 2010)

  Эти и другие книги вы можете бесплатно скачать с сайта www.originstory.net

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