Эллен Шрайбер - Vampireville

Alexander and I walked up my driveway. Instead of taking the path that led to my front door, Alexander escorted me toward my backyard.

"Yay! We can't let Jagger spoil our night," I cheered.

"We do have to be careful," he warned. "But you're right. I'm not ready to say good-bye just yet," he confessed. "Not now, not ever."

Suddenly a motion detector light above the garage triggered, illuminating the driveway, Billy Boy's basketball hoop, Mom's SUV, and a mortal girl and her vampire boyfriend.

"No!" Alexander shouted. He quickly shielded his pale face and retreated into the shadows.

"Are you all right?" I called, squinting into the darkness.

Alexander didn't answer. I followed him into the grass, toward our east-side neighbor's fence.

It took a moment for my eyes to adjust, though I still couldn't see him.

"Alexander, where are you? Are you hurt?"

I heard a fluttering above the power lines behind me. I followed the sound, which continued back over the driveway in the opposite direction from where I had been standing. When I walked through my backyard, there was a rustling in the bushes by our west-side neighbor's fence. Alexander was standing in front of them.

"How did you get over here so fast?" I asked curiously, all the while knowing the answer. "That was cool. It's like dating a superhero."

Alexander dusted off his black jeans, unfazed by his unearthly abilities.

"Are you okay?" I asked. Before he could answer, I was in his arms.

"Now that you are with me," he said, caressing my hair.

"I forgot—" "I didn't melt," he said. "I can handle softer light, like candles or lamps. But a burst of high-powered light repels me."

"I didn't even think—," I began when he pulled back and placed his frosty white index finger on my black lips.

"I'll be able to think better out here," he said, and stared up to the sky. "With you, underneath the stars. We don't have much time."

He led me over to the rickety wooden swing set Billy Boy and I had outgrown but my parents hadn't bothered to get rid of.

"It's been an eternity since I've hung out here," I told him. I could feel my pale face flush, exhilarated that I was finally able to share a place I'd spent in childhood isolation. "I used to bury my Barbies over there," I said, pointing to a mound of soil underneath an oak tree.

We each sat on a faded yellow plastic swing.

I began swinging, but Alexander remained still. He picked up twigs and threw them into the bushes, as if he were tossing Jagger out of Dullsville…

I skidded my combat boots into the weathered patches of grass.

"What's wrong?" I asked, now standing before him…, Alexander pulled me close. "It's hard for me to relax, knowing Jagger and Luna are still plotting revenge."

"Well, let's think like them. If he isn't in a cemetery and we don't have a Coffin Club in Dullsville, where could they be?"

"I know we are both vampires, but our instincts are different. He sees the world in black and red—blood red. I see the world in all different colors."

I grabbed his icy hand and fingered his spider ring.

"Just because you and Jagger are vampires doesn't mean you are the same. Look at Trevor and me. We're human, but total opposites," I reassured him.

Alexander broke into a smile. "I just want to be spending the darkness with you; instead I'm thinking of him'' "That's my fault," I insisted. "I wish I hadn't gone to the Coffin Club. Then we'd never be in this mess. I led Jagger right to you, and Luna straight to Trevor."

"You had nothing to do with this. If I'd said yes to Luna at the covenant ceremony in Romania, none of this would have happened."

"Then we wouldn't be together. And that is the most important thing."

"You're right," he said, and pulled me onto his lap. "But now we have a couple of vampires to catch."

We gently swung back and forth on the swing. The stars shone in the night sky.

The sweet smell of Drakar filled the air. The crickets seemed to be singing for us.

Just then my bedroom light switched on.

"Who's in my room?" I snarled.

Billy Boy jumped in front of the window, with his back toward us, hugging himself. From our vantage point, he appeared as if he were making out with a girl.

Alexander laughed at my little brother's antics.

"Get out of my room!" I yelled.

Billy Boy held Nightmare in his hands and waved her paw at me.

"Let her go! You'll give her fleas!" I shouted.

"He just wants your attention," Alexander said, dragging his boots into the dirt and holding one arm around me like a safety belt. "It's cute. He adores you."

"Adores me?"

"He has the coolest sister ever."

I turned to Alexander and gave him a long kiss. I'd spent my whole life as an outsider. Even though Alexander and I had been dating for a few months, it was still hard to get used to the fact that anyone would think I was normal, much less cool.

"It's getting late," he said. He grabbed my hand and began walking me to the front door. "You get your rest while I figure out where Jagger is."

"The night has just begun," I argued.

"Not for someone who has classes at eight in the morning."

"They always go on without me," I said with a shrug.

Alexander smiled at my tireless efforts but then turned serious. "Jagger's somewhere out here," he began, "hidden in a dark, secluded area or building big enough for two coffins," he said. When we reached the front doorstep, he went on, "You understand, I'll have to search for them alone."

"Just because I jumped the fence tonight?"

"I can't risk putting you in danger again."

"But I can't spend the days and nights without you! And you need me—it's like Batman without Robin. I know all the creepy places to hide in this town."

"Well…you're right, but not quite—" "Why not?"

"It's more like Gomez without Morticia," he said with a wink.

I leaned in to him and gave him a huge squeeze.

"We'll meet at sunset," he said, resigned. "And you can take me to one of those creepy places you are so fond of."

He gave me a lingering kiss, the kind that made my knees weak and my heart flutter like a hovering bat.

I unlocked the front door. "Till sunset," I said in a romantic daze and slowly turned to him.

Alexander had already vanished, just like any great vampire would.

I was sitting on my black beanbag chair recording the evening's events in my journal. I was too preoccupied with thoughts of Luna and Jagger to sleep. I imagined the two of them flying through Dullsville's night sky together, looking down on Dullsvillians who would look like tiny nobodies as they got stuck in traffic, played golf, and dined in outdoor restaurants. I imagined the twins hiding in a basement-turned-dungeon, Jagger with pet tarantulas, and Luna dolled up in dresses made out of spiderwebs.

A scratching sound began outside my window. Nightmare jumped up on my computer desk and hissed at the darkness.

I raced to my window. "Alexander?" I called softly.

There were no signs of anything living or undead outside.

I closed the curtains and held an anxious Nightmare in my arms. There could have been a number of vampires lurking outside my window under the night sky. I just didn't know which one. I pondered placing a garlic clove on the windowsill, but I might repel the very vampire I wanted to attract.

4 Freaky Factory

The next evening I exclaimed, "I have great news!" as Alexander opened the Mansion door. He was sporting a black Alice Cooper T-shirt and oversized black pants riddled with safety pins. His dark eyes looked tired.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" I asked.

"Last night I searched all over town until I could feel the sun rise behind me," he began as we sat on the red-carpeted grand staircase. "I went to a vacant church and the abandoned farmhouse where we found Nightmare. I even found a dried-up well. The only thing in it was a broken bucket. I've been rattling my brain ever since and I didn't sleep all day.