Эллен Шрайбер - Cryptic Cravings

Trevor could have any girl he wanted — except for me. But for some reason, I’d always been a thorn in his side, maybe one that he never really wanted to get rid of.

“I’ll just have to Lysol myself and make sure to get a rabies shot,” he said. “I won’t turn on the lights. For my protection — not yours.” He leaned in so close to me I thought for a moment he was going to kiss me.

“Don’t forget to bring your ‘Dating for Dummies’ handbook,” I said. “I’m sure you’ll need it.”

Instead of scowling, his face lit up with a glistening white, devilish smile. It was as if I’d made his day and our quick and battling banter were like an aphrodisiac to him. He winked at me before he arrogantly turned away and disappeared into the crowd of students.

Becky appeared weary as we headed to our lockers, but I remained unperturbed.

At the moment, celebrating our birthdays in a joint party should have been the biggest event in my life. Usually I’d be obsessed with thoughts of decorating the mansion with bat-shaped balloons, dark purple streamers, and a monster-size chocolate cake with tiny coffins.

But I couldn’t think of anything else when Jagger and his friends were secluded in the vacant mill, designing its transformation into one of the most cryptic of all clubs. With Alexander’s best friend only a short distance away from the Mansion, in secret, I knew I wouldn’t be able to invite him or the others. It felt like a stake through my heart and made me miserably lonely for my boyfriend’s sake.

The whole birthday celebration was already ripe with drama.

I was dying to know more about the plans for the Crypt and Sebastian’s sudden love for Luna. I had been hoping he’d be the perfect match for either Onyx or Scarlet, but he’d fallen for Alexander’s former nemesis’s sister. Now Sebastian would be hanging out with Luna and Jagger instead of Alexander and me and even going into business with Jagger. It was all happening too fast — even for someone as impulsive as me.

I decided I had a chance to find out more of Jagger’s intentions that afternoon since I would be protected by the sun — I used it to my advantage.

As soon as Becky dropped me at my house after school, I hopped on my bike and pedaled toward the Sinclair Mill. The ride was exhausting, with its curving hills and narrow, winding roads.

The rocky gravel of the mill’s driveway made it too unwieldy to ride over even with my thick tires, and I didn’t want to stir any sleeping vampires with the noise, so I walked my bike over the gravel and leaned it against one of the brick walls. I found a few rusted and locked gates with boarded-up windows.

I went around to the back of the building. This empty factory was historical to Dullsville, and I remembered learning about it in school. The mill prospered manufacturing uniforms for the war in the 1940s. After the war ended, a linen company bought it but it eventually went bankrupt. I imagined the noises of the running machinery cranking out uniforms for the war and the voices of the workers. The hours must have been long and laborious. I sweltered at school; I couldn’t imagine what it must have been like to wear a floor-length heavy dress while sewing all day long.

I thought it was hard to have worked at Armstrong Travel filing and making copies in a blouse, pencil skirt, and hose. I was happy I’d been born in the time of air-conditioning.

The red-tiled smokestack, once full of thick smoke, was now barely standing. What was once home to machines and laborers was now home to modern-day vampires.

I found the entrance that I had watched Onyx and Scarlet pass through. The door was unstable, looking like it might come off its hinges at any moment. I held it steady and gently opened it.

I quietly stepped over discarded materials and around garbage left by others’ sneak-ins as I made my way to the main part of the factory. So far I didn’t see any signs of the makeover I was hoping this empty mill would take on.

Instead of neon signs adorning the walls and a tiled dance floor, spray-painted graffiti was the only decoration, and broken chairs were cast aside in the corners like litter. I knew the vampire crew wasn’t in this room — the light was too bright for them to hide. They’d need a place dark and big enough to shelter five coffins.

As much as Jagger had been a pain to both Alexander and me, he did make the Coffin Club in Hipsterville a thriving place for both mortals and vampires to hang out. Jagger had a great imagination and was successful in seeing his vision come to life. And now I imagined how this factory could be transformed, too. I wish I’d thought of it first. But had it been my idea and my venture, the only thing that was sure was that no one would come. With Jagger, he already had vampires inhabiting it and hadn’t done a thing to it.

The sunlight streamed in through cracked, broken, and vacant windows. This would be a hard place for a sleeping vampire to get any shut-eye. Last time we’d discovered Jagger’s hideaway he was holed up in a freight elevator.

But with so many vampires now in his company, that would be too small for all their coffins.

I found the two-flight staircase we’d once taken when Alexander and I had originally found Jagger here months ago. As I ventured down the rickety staircase, less light streamed in and I dug into my backpack and grabbed my flashlight. My free hand got tangled in several spider-webs.

“Sorry,” I said to a grizzly-looking spider who stared back up at me.

I walked down a darkened hallway. It was straight out of a horror movie. There were no windows here in the sublevel hallway, and I only had a flashlight to show my way. My imagination transformed it into a mental institution, with screaming inmates. Not sure who or what might jump out at me, I had to fight my own will just to open a door.

I opened a few doors that led nowhere — empty rooms with no sign of life. . or the undead. At the end of the hallway, I came to the last two doors — one across from the other. At this point I wasn’t sure how much daylight I had to keep me safe. I decided to try the one on the right.

The door was secured, but not with a lock. It felt like something was wedged in front of it from the other side. To me that meant there was something behind it worth securing. I pushed against the door with all my might, and the wedge shifted just enough for me to slip through the opening. I stepped inside and cast my light around the room.

There they were — one right next to the other. Five coffins in a row. The first one, black with band stickers, was Jagger’s. The second, baby pink, was no doubt Luna’s. The third one was embellished with stickers from countries and cities across the globe, and I recognized it as Sebastian’s. The fourth was black onyx stone outlined in white, and the fifth was adorned with shiny beads. Those were certainly Onyx and Scarlet’s. Each had dirt around it in a circle. Five sleeping vampires, only a few feet away from me.

I imagined creating a custom coffin for Alexander and me — perhaps a double-wide coffin that looked like a huge heart. I wondered if the vampires were lonely in there, isolated from the rest of the world. I felt they must miss seeing each other during the daylight hours. Did they dream like we did or did they always have nightmares? I had to really contemplate this issue — think about if it was something I ultimately wanted, to be so closed away from another vampire or the outside world.

I knew I should back out immediately, return to the hallway, and close the door. I knew I shouldn’t remain in the room or step any closer to the coffins, but I couldn’t resist the temptation. I tiptoed up to Jagger’s coffin. I paused briefly, then leaned my ear to the coffin lid. I heard the faint sounds of breathing.