Эллен Шрайбер - Vampire Kisses

Now, after all these years, it was my turn to give him a grateful kiss on the cheek. "This is so unbelievable!"

"It wasn't my idea for the partiers to wear black," Jack said, pointing to a guy in Doc Martens, a black T-shirt, and slicked-back hair.

"Hey, girl!" It was Matt. "I was afraid you wouldn't show. We had to send Becky for you. We couldn't properly welcome Alexander to town after all this time without you!" My eyes lit up. "Alexander's been asking about you all night."

I glanced around frantically, speechless. I wanted to throw my arms around everyone. But where was Alexander?

"I think you'll find him inside," Matt hinted.

"I can't believe you did this!" The thought of seeing Alexander again thrilled me. I gave Matt a Ruby squeeze-hug. I think he was as startled by my affection as I was.

"You better get up there—before the sun rises," he said.

I paused, remembering one Dullsvillian I hadn't spotted. "He's not going to be lurking in the shadows, right?"

"Who?"

"You know who!"

"Trevor? He wasn't invited."

"Thanks, Matt. Thank you so much!" I said, giving him a thumbs-up.

"You did this, really. It's been good for us to take a walk on the wild side."

Becky grabbed my arm and led me toward the Mansion. A refreshment table was set up by the door. Juices and pop, chips and SnoCaps, Sprees, Good & Plenty, and Dots. Everything that Alexander had that night we watched TV at his house.

"No way!" I exclaimed. I glared at Becky. "I even told you about the SnoCaps?" I realized.

"If I kept that a secret, too, we wouldn't have refreshments," Becky added.

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.