Эллен Шрайбер - Dance With A Vampire

"I don't know. He was here a minute ago. I can't believe you are Prom Queen! Why did you give your tiara to Jennifer?"

"We'll talk later. I have to find Alexander."

"Hey—we have to retake the picture of us," Matt called to me.

I searched the tables where couples were sitting. Not a vampire among them.

"Have you seen Alexander?" I asked our class treasurer.

"Who's Alexander?"

I ran over to the punch table. A few couples were munching on chocolate kisses.

"Have any of you seen Alexander?"

"Alexander who?" one kid answered. "The zombie? I think he's already been buried."

My heart sank.

I raced to the side exit. A sign read EMERGENCY USE ONLY. IF DOOR IS OPENED, ALARM WILL SOUND.

Drats!

I passed the photographer, who was dismantling his equipment. I flew out the gymnasium entrance and hurried down the hallway.

Memories of the nightmarish end to the Snow Ball came storming back to me. Running outside in the pouring rain, finding a lone Alexander, begging him to talk to me as he walked home to the Mansion.

However, when I opened Dullsville High's main door, it wasn't pouring rain—or raining at all—but was cool and quiet.

"Alexander!" I called.

There, standing at the bottom of the stairs with his back toward me, was my vampire boyfriend.

I gathered the hem of my dress and hurried down the front steps.

"Alexander, please. I didn't want to dance with that jerk."

Alexander didn't reply.

"Please, look at me," I said, my eyes welling with tears.

Alexander turned to me and stepped aside, revealing Henry, who was standing with him.

The pit of my stomach turned. What was Henry doing at prom?

"Where's Billy Boy?" I asked, worried.

"He just told me he was going to Valentine's house," Henry said.

"He's supposed to be grounded," I said.

"I thought you should know."

I gazed at Alexander, who seemed as surprised to find Henry here as I was.

"Valentine said he'd been staying with his aunt, Maria Maxwell," Billy's nerd-mate continued. "Since Billy's been grounded, I had some free time, so I searched the town records for Valentine's aunt. I couldn't find her listed anywhere. There is not a trace of anyone here by that name. Then, tonight, Billy dropped off our Project Vampire for me to work on. I found this."

Henry handed Alexander an eight-by-ten weathered piece of parchment paper.

It was a gravestone etching.

In jagged letters were the words:

Maria Maxwell

Beloved Aunt

1824-1922

16 Sibling Rivalry

“I have to find Billy before it's too late," said Alexander. "Valentine is at the end of his rope. If I don't return within an hour, have Matt drive you home." Alexander gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and started toward his car.

"I'm going with you," I said, following after him.

"Stay here," he said, proceeding on. "I'll come back for you when I'm finished."

"I'm coming too. Billy's my brother."

Alexander continued cutting through the grass instead of walking on the sidewalk.

"Where does Maria Maxwell live?" I asked. "Or, I mean, where's she buried? In Dullsville's cemetery?"

"Henry said Billy was going to Valentine's house. I have an idea where that might be."

When Alexander and I reached the Mercedes, my usually gentlemanly boyfriend didn't open the door for me. Alexander was preoccupied as he started the car. We continued to sit in silence as we drove through downtown.

"This isn't how I imagined spending my prom," I said. "Trevor getting even with me and now Billy Boy in harm's way."

"Trevor is more of a vampire than I am," Alexander admitted. "He thinks like one and acts like one."

"That's why I love you," I said. "You are a vampire with a soul."

"While I am buried in the darkness of my coffin, I know Trevor can see you every day, share classes with you, gaze at you in the cafeteria. Things I never get to do—and will never be able to do. I know he was shoving it in my face."

"Well, it's a heavenly face," I said, caressing his shoulder.

"You looked so beautiful tonight," Alexander said as he continued to drive. "I only wish I could have been the Prom King dancing with you."

"Well, I didn't dance with Trevor. I gave the tiara to Jennifer Warren. She's the most popular girl in school. I can guarantee, now that Trevor tricked both me and her, he'll be riding home tonight in his million-dollar stretch limo alone."

I gazed out into darkness and at the same haze-covered fields we passed a few days ago. We drove through a forgotten meadow and along a bumpy dirt path.

The car's headlights shined on the darkened cavern and illuminated something shiny at the mouth of the cave.

I quickly got out of the car. Billy Boy's bike was outside.

"You were right!" I said proudly. "My brother's here."

Alexander handed me the flashlight and we crept into the darkened cave.

"Billy!" I called, but only my voice echoed back to me.

A few inches of water trickled over the stone floor as we traipsed through the dark and dank cave in our prom outfits. I held the hem of my dress up with one hand and the flashlight with the other while Alexander kindly guided me through our subterranean surroundings.

"This isn't like Billy. He's not this adventurous. This is something I'd do."

"Maybe that's why he's doing it," Alexander deduced. "To be more like you."

"I thought he was trying to impress Valentine."

"Maybe impressing you is more important to him."

"Billy!" I called. No answer.

We reached the trickling waterfall and fanglike stalactites where Alexander and I had had our romantic interlude. Alexander and I stopped and called out to Billy again. Once again we didn't hear an answer.

My flashlight illuminated what seemed to be a round patch on the stone floor. On further inspection, I realized it was a circle of dirt.

"This circle isn't big enough for a coffin," I stated.

"He's not sleeping in a coffin," Alexander surmised. He pointed above us. I turned my light toward the cave's ceiling. A few bats, hanging upside down, were startled and flew off.

I gasped. "Is one of them Valentine?"

Alexander shook his head.

We continued to forge on, proceeding farther into the cave than we'd explored the last time we were here.

"Billy!" Alexander hollered.

My light caught an odd shape in front of us. At first it appeared to be a dead end. But then I realized the cave split off in two different directions.

"Which way do we go?" I asked anxiously.

"We'll have to separate," Alexander instructed. "We don't have enough time to search each path together. I'll be able to find you."

But will we be able to find Billy? I wondered.

Alexander squeezed my hand and then let go. I flashed the light in his direction, but he was gone.

I shined my light in front of me. A chill ran through my veins. The air was cool and smelled musty. I took a deep breath and proceeded into the passageway. As I journeyed deeper into the cave, the passageway narrowed, the walls closing in on me. Soon the branch of the cave was only wide enough for one person to fit through.

Normally I'd have been exhilarated, feeling comforted by the nocturnal elements around me. Instead I was anxious. If I didn't get to Billy Boy in time, he'd be grounded for eternity.

As I crept through the skinny passageway, the air turned chillier and the sound of trickling water grew faint. The flashlight illuminated only a small pathway before me. I averted any protruding stalagmites by reaching out before me in the blinding darkness as I continued on my way, deeper into the cave.

"Billy!" I shouted. "Billy—where are you?"

The narrow walls of the passageway suddenly opened. In the distance, I saw what appeared to be flickering lights a few yards away. Maybe Billy was flashing an SOS. I gathered the hem of my dress and hurried toward the light.