Эллен Шрайбер - Dance With A Vampire

"There's someone he visits when he feels troubled. I think I might know where he has gone," I said.

"Can I drive you somewhere?"

"That would be wonderful!"

Jameson drove the Mercedes as slowly as if he were pushing the car with his feet. I figured by the time we reached Alexander, I'd be as old as the creepy man himself.

Jameson finally parked in front of Dullsville's cemetery.

"I'll just be a minute."

I ran between the tombstones and straight to Alexander's grandmother's monument.

There, crouched by the memorial, was my boyfriend, placing a handful of wildflowers by the grave marker.

"Alexander—"

He glanced up at me, surprised.

"We were supposed to meet at the Mansion," I said.

"I lost track of time. I just came here for a minute to get some wisdom. My grandmother was a wonderful woman. She was different from our family but always longed to be one of us. You remind me of her."

"You don't want us to be together—now that you've heard what Valentine said."

"Now I understand why, when we were at the gazebo, you said you liked me for who I was. You were worried Valentine would say something."

I nodded. "It was just a moment in the cave. If I had known ahead of time, everything would be different."

"Would it?"

"Don't you trust me?"

"I don't trust myself. I've let you into my world far too quickly."

"Please, don't say that."

"I never meant to frighten you."

"Me, frightened?"

"I don't want you to become like me. I've never asked you to join my world. I don't want you to be afraid that I will put you in that position."

I pulled him close. "Please, don't say such things. If more humans were like you, the world would be a much better place."

"Maybe we are deceiving each other—you thinking you can be a vampire, and me thinking I can be with a mortal."

"Please, this is exactly what Valentine wants. He's trying to take revenge on us by destroying our relationship. We were fine before he came."

Alexander's sullen eyes started to sparkle.

"You are right. I am playing right into his blood-reading hands." Alexander took my hand in his. "I would be nothing, in your world or mine, without you."

Alexander kissed me as Jameson flickered the lights on his car.

14 Morbid Manicure

“I have a treat for you girls," my mom said as Becky and I climbed into her SUV the afternoon of prom. "I scheduled two appointments for manicures for your big night tonight."

"Yay!" we both cried out in unison.

"Thank you so much, Mrs. Madison," Becky gushed.

Mindi's, an ultra-swank conservative salon, with its signature bright black-and-white-striped awning, was located in Dullsville's main square, between Fancy Schmancy Gifts and Linda's Lingerie.

"Maybe we can go there, too," I whispered to a blushing Becky when we got out of the SUV, referring to the sexy intimate clothing store.

Becky and I followed my mother into Mindi's chichi salon. The stylists were clad in crisp white tops and black rayon pants.

The chairs were filled with Dullsville High prom-goers getting makeovers, haircuts, and pedicures. All heads— being cut, blow-dried, and colored—turned toward me as if I (clad in tight black zippered shorts, black tights, Frankenstein boots, and a Gothique T-shirt) wasn't worthy of entering the salon.

"Pick out your polish," my mother instructed, pointing Becky and me to a Lucite shelf hanging on the wall next to the hair section. A ton of products lined the white wooden shelves—snazzy accessories in a rainbow of colors and fabrics, combs (skinny and wide-toothed), and brushes (round, flat, and lamb's-bristled). Dozens of shampoos and conditioners for every type of hair— frizzy, curly, straight, dry, oily, thick, and thin—were also displayed. I was amazed at what a bottle filled with soap and a few vitamins and minerals claimed to do. For the prices Mindi's was asking, I'd think they were filled with champagne.

Becky and I perused the nail polish selection while my mother checked us in. The shelves were filled with a spectrum of colors from pink to purple, red to clear. Becky quickly chose a bottle of Pink Persuasion.

I scanned the polishes. Nothing resembled black, not even a deep purple or brown among them.

My mother joined us, buzzing like it was my wedding day. She was exhilarated, caught up in the prom spirit as if she were going herself. Since I had been an outcast for so long, she herself had never been included in the high school's events.

"So what have you decided on, girls?" she asked.

"Becky picked a beautiful pink," I said.

My best friend proudly showed my mother her selection of a pretty pastel nail color.

"Lovely choice, Becky. Raven, what have you picked?"

"Well…"

"We're ready for you," a pixie-like girl with spiky short red hair said, her white shirt stretched tightly around her pregnant belly. "I'm Cami."

"I'll pick you up in half an hour," my mom said. "Remember, when the girls have finished, don't touch anything! You don't want to smear your manicure."

Cami led Becky and me past a dozen hairstylists' chairs to the nail room or what I'd call a vampire's nightmare. The walls were made of mirrors, and bright fluorescent lights filled the ten-by-ten-foot room. Alexander wouldn't last two seconds in here.

A half-dozen white manicure tables—each with a black desk lamp, white hand towels, and pastel polishes— faced the mirrored walls. A few pedicure bowls were sitting on the floor, all occupied by the feet of adolescent fashionistas.

Jenny Warren and her Prada shoe-snob friend, Heather Ryan, sat underneath foils with one foot in a spa bath and the other resting on a pedicurist's lap, their flawless model's toes being primped for their walk down Prom Princess Road.

Cami showed Becky to her seat, then directed me to the vacant chair next to hers. As I settled in, a middle-aged veteran manicurist nodded to me as she stood over her client, whose hands were drying underneath a heating lamp.

Becky and I watched as Cami started removing Becky's nail polish.

"You must be Raven," my manicurist said, placing a plastic finger bowl filled with sudsy water on her table. "I'm Jean."

"Nice to meet you," I responded with a smile.

I glanced over at Becky, who was engaged in conversation with Cami as if they'd been friends for years. Cami looked like she'd just graduated from beauty school.

My manicurist, however, with her crazy colored bifocals, resembled my grandmother. Her own thick nails weren't painted and looked weathered. Who could blame her? By the end of the day, she was probably too exhausted to decorate her own nails.

"What color have you picked?" she asked, looking at me above her bifocals.

"Well…I haven't decided yet."

Jean began removing my black polish with a cotton ball. It took her a few minutes to get it out of the nooks, the dark color imbedded in my nails.

"Your mother said your dress was a dark red."

"Yes," I said, our conversation stilted.

Jean opened her drawer and pulled out a bottle of red nail polish. "How about this?"

"I prefer something darker."

Jean placed my hands in the finger bowl filled with warm, bubbly water.

"This color is very popular." She held out a bottle of metallic pink.

"I was thinking of black."

"How about something more feminine," she said, ignoring my request.

I could feel Becky slink down in her chair next to me. Becky and Cami continued to talk but kept eyeballing Jean and me.

Jean rose and went to the front desk. In a moment, she returned with a few bottles of reds and pinks.

"I thought you'd want to look like Cinderella, not Frankenstein," she quipped, placing the colors on her manicure table and sitting down.