Shortly after sunset Alexander and I walked up the lonely road that led to Dullsville's cemetery. Although I wasn't actually a vampire, I felt like I was. I'd convinced twin vampires I was as undead as they were, I was on the arm of the most handsome of vampires, and I was going to party with a bunch of other ghouls. I was happy to be me-- vampire or not.
I was dolled up as Elvira, in a long black dress with shredded spidery sleeves and a slit racing up my leg, exposing black mesh tights. Long black plastic fingernails flashed from my pale fingertips. My jet black hair was teased up like a fountain, the ends falling down over my shoulders. I revealed as much cleavage as I could manage to squeeze out in a recently purchased push-up bra. I'd also bought Alexander the last Grim Reaper costume left over from Halloween merch at Jack's department store. It was a black hooded costume with a skeleton mask and a plastic scythe.
"You look stellar," Alexander said, his midnight eyes sparkling as we walked together. "I can't believe I'm with you."
It was a dream come true for me to be strolling down the street holding the bony skeleton hand of the Grim Reaper--and even doubly dreamy that it was really my vampire boyfriend.
Cars lined the street leading up to the cemetery. At the far end of the road, parked alongside a Dumpster, I saw Jagger's hearse. I was as excited as I was nervous to implement our plan.
When we turned the corner to the cemetery, Alexander said, "I brought my antidote. Did you bring your garlic?"
I stopped dead in my tracks. "I knew I forgot something!" I exclaimed. "It's in my night stand. We have to go home," I pleaded.
"We don't have time," Alexander warned. "The ceremony could be over by the time we'd return."
We reached the iron gate and climbed over the fence. When we were safely on the cemetery ground, I saw a sight I'd never seen before--and one thing we hadn't planned on. The graveyard was filled with Grim Reapers.
"How will we ever find Trevor now?" I asked. "It will take forever!"
My heart sank as I stepped over cans of soda littering the graveyard. I bent down to pick up an empty can.
"We don't have time for that now," Alexander said again. "If we don't get to Trevor in time, the caretaker and the rest of Dullsville will have to worry about more than empty cans and bottles."
We passed a Grim Reaper who was talking to a werewolf. "Trevor?" I asked, but the Angel of Death shook his head.
We passed ghosts and ghouls dancing and drinking among the tombstones.
Sitting on a wooden bench was a familiar witch holding hands with Michael Myers.
"You are quite the spooky pair," I said.
"Raven," the witch said as the two rose. "I'm so glad you came."
"Wow, that is some dress," Matt said from underneath his hockey mask. "Maybe you could get a costume like that for Becky." My best friend turned devil red.
"This party is great," Matt continued. "The whole school is here."
"We're looking for Trevor. Have you seen him?" I asked.
"No. Word has it that he's going to be in some medieval ceremony by the tombs in just a few minutes."
Then I noticed Luna a few yards ahead, placing a flower at the base of Alexander's grandmother's monument.
"Do me a favor; if things get weird, will you go home?" I whispered to Becky.
"We are partying in a cemetery," she said. "Things are already weird."
I gave Becky a quick hug, and Alexander and I headed for the monument.
Luna stood up. She was beautiful--like a gothic prom fairy. She glowed in a ghostly white tattered prom dress, with a pink wrist carnation and combat boots. Her soft hair flowed over her shoulders like a waterfall; her frost white complexion, highlighted by heavy indigo eye shadow and pale pink lip gloss, glistened softly.
"Trevor said you weren't coming," Luna exclaimed, bouncing over to us like a butterfly. "But I knew you'd come."
"We weren't invited," I said, "but I wouldn't let that stop me. I wouldn't want to miss your covenant ceremony for the world."
"Look at what you missed in Romania," she said proudly to Alexander. She was beautiful as she giggled and did a flirty spin, modeling her tattered dress for him.
Alexander wasn't amused.
"Where's Trevor?" he asked. "Is he getting cold feet?" "No, but he thinks I have his cold. When we met here tonight, I started to feel ill. Sweet, really. A vampire with a cold," she said with a grin. "So he went to his car to get me cough drops. He's dressed as the Grim Reaper," she remarked in a spooky voice.
"I know," I said. "So is everyone else."
"Stay here with me," Luna begged, taking my hand.
"We'd better find Trevor," I told her. "We need to start the ceremony before the cops get wind of this party."
She relaxed her grip. "You're right," she said. "Please hurry."
"Alexander, would you stay with me?" she asked sweetly.
I grabbed my boyfriend's arm. "Alexander has to come with me. I'll need him to help me find Trevor."
"Man, she really must still like you," I said as we walked past the tombs. "I had to pry her bony fingers off of you."
Alexander and I headed for Trevor, but we didn't know where to begin. The graveyard was full of Angels of Death.
We saw two Grim Reapers playing spin the bottle with a few cheerleaders dressed as red devils.
"Trevor?"
"Over there," one said, pointing her pitchfork toward the front of the cemetery.
"I'll wait a few minutes and double back as Trevor," Alexander said. "Make sure he gets out of the cemetery grounds. And I want you to stay away, too."
"So you can stand up there on sacred ground alone with two vampires?" "I can't protect both me and you." Alexander lifted his skeleton mask from his face.
His charcoal eyes sparkled. He leaned in and kissed me.
"I'm going to double back now," he said, replacing his mask.
I waited for a moment and watched as the man of my dreams confidently, and selflessly, set forth on our mission.
"Trevor!" I called as I ran through the cemetery.
I caught up with one reaper.
"Trevor?"
"No, but I'm sure he's around," a girl's voice mumbled.
I raced toward the front gate. I looked for any Grim Reaper carrying cough drops.
Then I wondered, maybe Luna was making up the story. Maybe Trevor had been at the ceremony the whole time.
"Trevor?" I desperately asked a Grim Reaper heading straight for me.
"Yes, Monster Girl?" He crossed his arms, his heavy, billowy sleeves hanging down.
My eyes lit up. Now that I had Trevor, I had to get him off sacred ground.
"I finally found you!"
A stone-cold skeleton mask stared back at me.
"Uh...Luna is still not feeling well," I rambled. "Allow me to escort you to get her cough drops." I took his white skeleton hand and tried to lead him toward the gate.
The Angel of Death didn't follow.
Instead he held up a pack of vitamin C with his bony hand. He turned away from me and headed for the ceremony.
I raced after him.
"I've been trying to tell you," I began. "Luna isn't the girl you think she is. She's not some nice straight-A cheerleader. She's going to double-cross you."
He shook his head and walked on.
"Trevor. You can't!"
When I caught up to him, I grabbed the sleeve of his costume. With a quick jerk, he pulled his arm away.
I was on a mission, impossible as it might be. I grabbed his plastic scythe, but he continued to walk on.
I raced ahead, blocking his way with the scythe.
"Wait," I whispered, out of breath. "Please, before you go any further. You were the one who tried to convince the town about the Sterlings. Why don't you see Alexander in the daylight? Why did Luna and Jagger invite you to a cemetery? You were right all along. They weren't rumors. It was all because they are vampires."
I stared at his fixed skeleton face. He waved his skeleton hand and pushed his way past me. I followed him back to the site of the covenant ceremony. A crowd of aliens had already gathered in front of the tomb. Ghosts and witches were everywhere, standing, sitting, leaning.
In front of the tombs was a coffin with a lit candelabra. Alexander, passing as Trevor in his Grim Reaper costume, was waiting on one side with a pewter goblet.
With all my might, I grabbed the arm of the Angel of Death standing next to me. "Don't go," I begged. "Please. Alexander is up there, trying to divert their vicious plan. Watch what happens, and if I'm wrong then I'll kiss you right here in front of the whole school!" I blurted out.
He stopped and looked at me for a few long seconds.
My heart ceased. I realized what I had just committed to. Our plan had better work. I held all our lives and my mouth at stake here.
We hid behind some partygoers, standing a few feet from Alexander.
Then I saw Luna walking up the cemetery aisle, gravestones on either side of her, a dead bouquet in her hand.
Becky and Matt snuck in next to me.
"This is cool. It's like a creepy gothic wedding," the friendly witch said. "Maybe we can be next," she teased Matt.
I yanked the Angel of Death back. "I've tried to tell you all along," I said in a whisper. "You were right about the Sterlings. They are vampires. And so are Luna and Jagger. Please believe me. Before it's too late."
Alexander drank from the goblet.
Luna reached my Grim Reaper and drank from the goblet too. Then she said something inaudible.
"What did she say?" Becky asked. "'To the king and queen of the graveyard,' " Matt repeated.
Luna turned to Alexander. She leaned in to him.
I gasped. The crowd cheered.
"No!" I shouted, lunging forward, but a cadaverous hand stopped me.
I turned to see the Angel of Death behind me.
Just then Alexander grabbed Luna's shoulders and held her at arm's length.
"What are you doing? Don't push me away!"
"Kiss her! Kiss her!" the crowd chanted.
But Alexander kept the vampiress at bay with one hand. He pulled off his reaper's hood.
"I'm not Trevor!" Alexander exclaimed. "Now you can stop your games."
"Why is Alexander there?" Matt said to Becky. "What's going on?"
Luna glared at my true love. She started to laugh. "It was never Trevor I wanted here. It was you!"
Alexander stepped back, confused. Luna grabbed his oversized sleeve. "Now I don't have to wait for you to take me. I can take you!"
I lunged forward, but the Angel of Death squeezed my shoulder.
"Get off!" I ordered.
Thank goodness Alexander was stronger than the waifish Luna. He held his scythe in one hand and the writhing vampiress at bay with the other. On the far side of Luna a Grim Reaper pushed through the crowd toward the struggling vampires.
"Luna, what are you doing?" he yelled. "This wasn't the plan. You are not supposed to be with Alexander!"
The crowd cheered, "Fight! Fight!"
Alexander began to cough, letting go of Luna.
"This is who I've always wanted," Luna defended. "Alexander is who I've waited my life for." She coughed, too, and clung to the side of the coffin.
The hooded reaper yanked off his shroud. Blond hair flung down over his face. It wasn't Jagger. Standing in between Luna and Alexander was Trevor Mitchell.
I stepped back, shocked. If Trevor, Luna, and Alexander were struggling by the coffin, whose hand was on me?
I inched away and tried to release my hand. The Angel of Death only squeezed harder. Then he pulled me a few feet away from the ceremony.
I turned and tore off the reaper's black hood. Blue and green eyes stared back at me. It was Jagger.
"You aren't going anywhere, Monster Girl," he said with a seductive, menacing voice.
My vampire boyfriend grew red with rage as he saw Jagger by my side on sacred ground. "Raven!" Alexander called. He started to wheeze and began to stagger toward us.
Trevor glanced over, shocked and confused.
I tried to pull my hand away, but Jagger tightened his grip and started to cough. Alexander was doubling over but was determined to reach me. "Jagger, let her go!" he warned.
With every step Alexander took forward, Jagger took one back.
The confused crowd started cheering. Some shouted, "Kiss! Kiss!" while others yelled, "Fight! Fight!"
Luna recoiled from the confused and rejected Trevor, her pasty complexion turning even paler.
Jagger's eyes began to tear. His breathing became labored.
What could be making all the vampires ill?
Then it hit me. The vampires began to get sick when Trevor showed up.
"What's wrong with Alexander?" I heard Becky ask Matt.
"Trevor's taken garlic pills!" I shouted to Alexander. "Take your antidote," I said, pointing to my leg.
Alexander wheezed but reached underneath his cloak and pulled out his serum. Becky and Matt ran to his side while Alexander jammed the shot into his leg.
Jagger backed up, pulling me farther away from the crowd.
"Get off of me," I said wedging my boot between us.
"Not so fast," he said with hypnotic eyes. "Alexander made a fool of our family in Romania, and you were planning to do it again tonight?"
"Let me go--"
"Where's your vampire bite, Raven?" he whispered.
"I told you, I can't show you." "You were very convincing. Until Luna discovered a compact mirror in your purse. You led her on; you led us both on."
"I did not!"
"Then why aren't you wheezing now? And most important, what's this?" He reached underneath his cloak and pulled out a cell phone. He flipped the phone open and held it before me-- a picture of a cheerleader and a soccer snob at school, taken by Trevor. And standing in back of them was a mortal Raven, reflecting back for all vampires to see.
"You have a cunning and crafty nature. You turned out to be more of a vampire than Alexander," Jagger said flatly.
Alexander pushed through the crowd toward us. Trevor followed close behind.
"What is Jagger doing with Raven?" Trevor asked.
"Back off!" Jagger shouted. "You will not make a fool of my family anymore."
"What's he talking about?" Trevor said, now standing by Alexander.
"Get back!" Jagger shouted to Trevor, coughing as he spoke. "You think you have it all with your sports and your pretty girls. But you were never like us and could never be good enough for my sister."
"You planned this all along?" Trevor asked Jagger. "Raven was right, trying to warn me about you for days. Why? Just because I was different?"
Trevor had picked on me all my life because I was the outsider. Now he faced the same ridicule.
"Go back to your soccer field," Jagger said. "This game is way out of your league." I stared at my mortal nemesis, whose face was growing red with rage. For the first time in sixteen years, Trevor Mitchell had finally met a bigger bully than himself.
Trevor looked at Jagger as if he were a soccer ball that needed to be kicked into the opponent's goal.
"Get off," I said to Jagger. "You're hurting me!"
Alexander's eyes turned red. "Jagger. You have one second to let her go! Otherwise, it's all over!"
Jagger's grip was so hard around my wrist I couldn't move.
"It'll feel like a pin prick," he said to me in a seductive voice. He gently stroked my hair away from my shoulders. He leaned toward me and flashed his fangs.
"No!" I cried.
And the world went black.
