Эллен Шрайбер - Cryptic Cravings

Suddenly a thud came from the other side. I was so startled I jumped up and let out an audible gasp. My heart was racing so hard I was sure I’d have to call a doctor.

I paused, covering my mouth with my hand. I wondered if they had heard me.

Now I knew it was time to retreat. I tiptoed out and did my best to wrestle the wedge back underneath the door from the other side with my flashlight.

I checked the time on my cell phone and, with sunset approaching, realized I had only a few minutes to investigate further. I’d found the coffins and discovered that no plans had been carried out yet. But what was Jagger’s next move, and were there any clues that could help me figure that out?

There was one more door left uninvestigated — the one across the hall from the sleeping vampires. I’d be smart to head to the Mansion and return another time with Alexander. I didn’t have much time to decide, and I was desperate to know what lay on the other side.

I stared at the doorknob. I anxiously turned the handle, but it wouldn’t open. I pushed and pulled so hard, the knob came off in my hand. As I wrangled it back on, I could feel it catching the latch. I did my best to be patient and opened the door slowly.

The room was dark except for a paper-thin beam of light streaming in through a broken window at least twenty feet from the floor. The smell of dust and mold filled the room. Old filing cabinets lined a few walls and there was an antique wooden desk. A green wine bottle with a Romanian label sat on it. In the corner was an aquarium containing not water but rocks and one very frightening tarantula. Gravestone etchings, including the very ones I’d seen at Jagger’s place in Hipsterville, hung from the walls. This must be Jagger’s new quarters. By appearances, he wasn’t ready to return to Hipsterville in the near future.

I didn’t have much time to riffle through the mess.

I spotted a tube of papers. I unscrolled them and discovered they were a stack of diagrams. Sticky notes labeled each one individually, the first, THE CRYPT, the second THE COVENANT, and the third, which was worn and appeared to be an original copy labeled SINCLAIR MILL. I was looking at the blueprints for Jagger’s club.

I examined the one marked THE CRYPT. I wasn’t in the habit of reading blueprints and they weren’t as detailed as I would have imagined. Instead of pictures there were boxes and lines, dotted and thick ones representing different things. I could make out one main room with a large box marked “stage.”

So, was “the Covenant” the mysterious underground vampire club, like the Dungeon was in the Coffin Club? I knew Jagger had mentioned to Sebastian his dream to open the club to vampires. These could be the plans to prove that it was more than a dream.

I was intent on scouring it when I realized the light was no longer streaming in through the cracked window.

This meant one thing: The sun had set and the sleeping vampires in the next room were about to rise.

Alexander had to see these plans. He was smart and would know better how to read them. But I couldn’t take them all with me. If Jagger discovered they were missing, who knows what he would do. I pulled out my cell phone to take a picture of them when I heard a rustling coming from the next room.

I would have to use my flash to take the picture, and I knew it would bring immediate attention to the room I was rifling through.

I only had seconds to decide. Ticktock. Ticktock. It was then I heard a creaking opening of coffin lid doors.

I decided against the photo. I definitely couldn’t take all the plans, but maybe Jagger wouldn’t notice if one was missing. I pulled away the one on top and rolled the others back up and bound them with the rubber band. My heart was pounding and the blueprints in my hands were shaking.

I rolled up the Crypt plans and stuck them in my backpack and replaced the other two exactly where they had been. I grabbed my flashlight and quietly closed the door behind me. I bolted out of the room and tore up the rickety spiral staircase before the vampires had a chance to reach the hallway.

Breathless, I hopped on my bike and pedaled straight for the Mansion.

“You did what?” Alexander exclaimed when I explained the last hours’ events.

Alexander didn’t greet me with the usual hug and sensual kiss. I realized I shouldn’t have spoken so soon.

“I thought this way we could have leverage on their plans,” I said. “Once you see this — maybe we’ll know what he’s really up to.”

“Why didn’t you wait for me?” he asked, shaking his head.

“It was the only way for me to find out info. Under the cloak of sunlight. Otherwise they’d be up and I couldn’t have investigated. We need to know what they are truly planning.”

I took out the blueprint and unrolled it on the antique dining-room table. I moved it far enough away from the several lit candelabras that wax wouldn’t drip on the paper.

“I don’t see anything unusual here,” Alexander said, examining it like a professional. “It is the blueprint for the club.

There’s the stage, there’s the bar. This is the dance floor. Over here is a door. Not sure where it goes.”

“It seems really cool,” I said, pining for the club that I wanted to have in Dullsville.

“But there was another set of blueprints,” I confessed. “It said ‘The Covenant,’ but I couldn’t get a photo of it in time.

I think they are the plans for his secret vampire club. Would Jagger share everything with Sebastian?” I speculated, like Sherlock Holmes. “I don’t think so.”

“There was another set?” Alexander asked.

“Yes. I wanted to look it over — even take it — but I couldn’t. The sun was setting and I didn’t want to get caught.”

“You shouldn’t have taken these — you shouldn’t have been in there in the first place.”

“I know. But can we leave this to chance? Just wait until Jagger opens the club, when we both heard he plans to open it to vampires, too?”

“I wouldn’t put it past him to do something. The Coffin Club was so successful, I can see why he’d want to open another one. But here? It’s too dangerous.”

“That’s why we have to see those plans.”

Alexander reluctantly agreed.

“I want to party at the Crypt so badly,” I continued with a dreamy tone. “But we must stop this underground club and stop him from inviting more vampires to Dullsville.”

“Raven, we must return these immediately, before Jagger realizes they are missing. He and I have a truce. I don’t want anything to disrupt that.”

I could see how important it was to Alexander to finally have the weight of the Maxwells off his back. I didn’t mean to start trouble again. I was just trying to make sure that Jagger wasn’t up to anything nefarious. But maybe I was misjudging Jagger’s intentions, like people in Dullsville misjudged mine.

“And we have to examine the Covenant,” I said to Alexander as I carefully stuffed the Crypt blueprints in my backpack, “just to be sure. I think it holds the real key to Jagger’s plans.”

Alexander shook his head again. He grabbed the keys to the Mercedes off the antique end table and we headed straight back to the factory.

Alexander and I parked the Mercedes at a distance and traipsed through the darkness toward the factory. I would have felt like a scolded child, with Alexander dragging me back to return my stolen goods, but Alexander knew, too, that we had to double check Jagger’s intentions to make sure the club he was building was safe for Alexander’s life in town and for the mortal residents of Dullsville.

We had three options. One, we could boldly go into the factory and face Jagger and Luna with my questions and admit I had their plans. Two, we could hang out and act natural, and while Alexander was chatting with the guys I could return the blueprint. Or three, both Alexander and I could sneak in and, with Alexander’s nocturnal vampire vision, find our way to the office. The third was the riskiest, and thus, the most appealing to me. We both agreed that admitting that I’d taken the plans might be a cause for a broken truce, so we decided to attempt the full sneakin.