That night, Billy Boy and Henry were hunkered in our family room, eagerly doing their vampire project while I was making the finishing touches to my hair.
I heard the doorbell ring.
"I'll get it!" I hollered.
I checked myself out in the hallway mirror. I made sure my teeth were lipstick-free and tightened my black lace sash around my waist. I opened the door to find my dream guy, looking sexy in a shadowy oversized black shirt, silver-seamed black jeans, and combat boots riddled with straps.
Alexander pulled me to him and gave me a hello kiss.
"Alexander's here! I'll see you later," I called to anyone who was listening, and closed the front door behind me.
"Fortunately Billy Boy's in for the night," I said when I reached Alexander's waiting car. "Who does homework on Friday?"
"There's nothing wrong with being studious," Alexander defended, holding the door open for me.
"It is when the ultrastudious one is my brother," I said, half teasing. "I've always wanted a cool brother. Cryptic, clever, dangerous. Not a nerdy one. But I suppose Billy Boy's always wanted to have an honor student for an older sister, so I guess we're even."
I settled into the Mercedes and Alexander pulled out of the driveway.
"Did Ruby come over for dinner the other night?" I asked, checking my eyeliner in the rearview mirror.
"Yes. The old guy is getting to be quite the ladies' man. It's getting harder for me to borrow Jameson's car. He lent it to me for this evening, but he is taking Ruby out tomorrow night."
"So where are you taking me?" I asked.
"It's a secret. And I have a surprise for you when we get there."
Alexander drove through downtown and toward the outskirts of Dullsville.
"I found this place last night," he said as he turned the car around a tight bend. "I discovered it when I was looking for Valentine. I thought we could grab a few minutes just for us." Just us. A stolen moment when Alexander and I could finally have a romantic interlude with stars twinkling and the moon shining down on us, and we wouldn't have to worry about Jagger, Luna, Trevor, Valentine, or Billy Boy. I think we'd both been waiting for a chance like this forever.
The car lights illuminated fog as it began to creep over the twisting road, eventually puffing against the car and making it seem like we'd driven through a ghost.
I peered out the passenger-side window, out into the distance. In the darkness, a white billowy haze hung over the desolate fields.
Alexander pulled off onto a dirt road. I could barely see anything in front of us. The car bumped along the unmarked path. We were surrounded by darkness and a fog-covered meadow.
"How can you even see where we are?" I asked.
Alexander seemed confident. He stopped the car and shifted the gear into park.
"I thought we could take a moment to enjoy something new," he said as we got out of the Mercedes.
Alexander grabbed his backpack from the trunk and threw it over his shoulder. He held my hand and gave me a flashlight.
Together we walked through the meadow, pushing the tall grass out of our way.
In the darkness, I could barely make out what appeared to be a hill until Alexander had me shine the flashlight in its direction.
The hill had a huge opening. It was a cave.
"I thought this was just an urban legend!" I exclaimed. I felt as if we were explorers discovering a new land. "I've heard that as a club initiation kids spend the night here, never to return," I gossiped. "But I never knew it really existed."
I held on to Alexander's belt and followed him into the cave. He could see where he was going in the dark, but he thoughtfully took the flashlight and illuminated the way for me.
We entered the monster-sized mouth of the cave, with its damp, musty scent and distinctive chilly air. The rocky floor was wet, and Alexander steered me clear of any protruding edges. I ran my hand along the side of the cave. Some areas were smooth, some were bumpy and riddled with cavities, while others were covered with moss.
As Alexander led me deeper into the cave, I could hear the faint and soothing sounds of trickling water. When he shined his light above us, an enormous ceiling dripping with stalactites, hanging like gigantic vampire fangs, was revealed.
Alexander led me to a dry spot and passed me the flashlight. I watched as he opened the backpack, pulled out candles, and placed them around us. One by one he lit them, encircling us with candlelight.
"This is the most romantic thing I've ever seen!" I said.
The candles cast shadows from the stalactites and stalagmites against the cave walls, making them seem twice their size. I loved it.
Alexander pulled out a few sandwiches and sodas from his bag. We drank, kissed, and laughed.
As Alexander put the wrappers in his backpack, we heard fluttering sounds above us and spotted a few bats flying overhead.
"They come in and out during the night with food," Alexander said.
"Could Valentine have been one of those bats?" Alexander didn't respond.
"Tell me more about Valentine," I asked curiously, resting back on my elbows.
"Figures. I bring a beautiful girl to a romantic candlelit cave and she wants to talk about a much younger man."
"You're right," I said in a flirtatious whisper. "Let's talk about us."
"Let's not talk at all," he said in a soft voice.
Then, one by one, Alexander blew out the candles until only one remained.
He paused over the last one, staring at me with a sexy grin, shadows dancing around his handsome face. "I'm making a wish."
"It only comes true on a birthday cake. Besides, you'll be able to see and I won't. It's not fair."
"I'll close my eyes, I promise."
"Not so fast--"
I slid off the black lace sash I was wearing as a belt and loosely tied it around his head, gently covering his eyes. "Now we are equal."
Alexander blew out the last candle.
We were in total darkness. I couldn't see Alexander, the mouth of the cave, or even my own fingers.
Alexander kissed the back of my hand, slowly pecking his way up my arm until he reached my neck.
I paused. "What is the surprise?" I asked. "Are we on sacred ground?"
"Want to find out?" he asked with a smile. "Wait one minute." A surprise, I thought. What could it be?
I felt a warm grasp on my neck.
It was then that I knew. My fantasy was finally coming true. Alexander was going to bite me.
My heart began to pulse against the flesh of his palm. I started to visualize my new life as his hand lay on my most vital of veins.
My dream was to become a vampire, for Alexander to be the one who turned me and be the one to whom I'd be bonded for eternity. But as he held my neck, I suddenly wasn't sure if I was ready to plunge myself into the darkness forever. Thoughts of my parents flooded through me. It was one thing to be an outcast in my own family because I was a Goth. It would be quite another to be an outcast because I was no longer a mortal. I wouldn't be included in family photos, or far worse, I might not be able to see them again in order to keep my new identity a secret. My heart began to race so hard, it almost hurt. It was as if Alexander could feel my soul with his palm. I didn't feel comforted, even by his warm touch.
I'd envisioned an elaborate and gloomy gothic covenant ceremony in Dullsville's cemetery underneath the crystal moonlight, an antique candelabra and a pewter goblet atop a closed coffin, my gorgeous vampire-mate awaiting me by the medieval altar. I'd be holding a bouquet of dead roses and wearing a morbidly black sexy lace dress, which would flow behind me as I walked between the tombstones. We'd join hands and toast to our union, and when I was ready, Alexander would kiss me on the neck.
I hadn't envisioned it this way though, a surprise life-changing moment where I couldn't even see what was happening.
It was as if he knew everything I was thinking--every thought I was feeling was flowing through to his hand. My blood boiled. My head began to spin and I became dizzy.
"Alexander--you are hurting my neck." "I'm not touching your neck," I heard him say from a distance. "I'm trying to find my backpack."
I gasped. It seemed as if time stood still.
If Alexander wasn't holding my neck, who was?
My dizzy mind was jolted back to reality. "Get off!" I cried. "Let go!"
I flailed my arms and kicked my legs, whacking something or someone. I could hear a stumbling and then a thud.
"Alexander," I called. "We're not alone!"
Who knew who could be lurking in the cavern with us. Maybe as a joke, Trevor had followed us. Or worse, a group of juvies or derelicts were hanging out in the cave. How could a vampire and his mortal girlfriend fend off a gang of sauced-up criminals or delinquent teens defending their turf?
My mind and heart raced. I could barely breathe.
"Alexander--where are you? I can't see!" I continued to flail about but made contact only with the air.
Just then I saw a flash of light. Alexander was before me, his hair messy from removing his blindfold, the flashlight in one hand and my sash in the other. I ran over to my boyfriend and hid behind his back. I grabbed the flashlight, as much to use as a weapon as a source of illumination.
My heart continued to beat as if it were going to jump out of my chest. I shined the light around us. I didn't see anyone. We were alone.
I heard a fluttering sound. Alexander pointed above me. I fixed the light on a single bat hovering over me, his green eyes piercing my soul.
"Alexander--" Suddenly the bat flew toward the mouth of the cave.
My boyfriend and I quickly chased after the winged creature, back through the cave, carefully running over the slippery rock floor.
By the time we reached the opening, the bat was gone.
On the ground, at the entrance of the cave, something shimmered in the moonlight. Alexander picked up the shining object in his pale hand.
It was an empty amulet.
