Annie’s Antiques was one of my favorite haunts. A Victorian-style home was turned into an antiques store, each room filled with knickknacks, furniture, and artwork.
Annie greeted me with a warm hello. She was one of the few store owners who didn’t judge me by the way I was dressed, assuming I was going to vandalize or shoplift. The antiques store was also one of the few stops in
Dullsville where I regularly bought merchandise.
She wore an oversized leopard-print shirt with a black faux-fur collar and black rayon pants. Two golden retrievers roamed throughout the rooms and slept by Annie’s stool. “What are you looking for today?” she asked.
“Nothing in particular. Just browsing.”
“I got some new things in that might interest you,” she said, pointing to a nearby doorway.
I strode across the Victorian home’s hardwood floors, which were weathered by all the foot traffic and furniture being moved in and out. On a small table covered with black lace fabric were items from Halloweens past.
Coveting all the goodies, I gathered as many things as I could hold, as if at any moment there could be a swarm of competitive shoppers.
“You could use a shopping cart,” Becky said, helping me place the various decorations on the counter.
“Look at these!” Becky presented me with three fake tombstones. “You can put them in your room.”
“Absolutely!”
I found a box of skeleton lights perfect for hanging by the gazebo.
“I’m not sure that all the bulbs work,” Annie confessed when I brought them to my already rising pile of merchandise.
“It doesn’t matter,” I said, unfazed. “They are a must-have.”
I found some lace place mats, dragon-headed candlesticks, and a ceramic raven.
“Are you having a party?” Annie asked. “You could decorate a mansion with all this stuff.”
Becky gave me a skeptical stare. “Yes, what are you going to do with all these things?”
I handed Annie all the money I had in my wallet. “Saving them for a rainy day, I guess.”
“It might not rain for a while,” Annie said. “I hope you are able to enjoy them before then.”
“I will.”
Becky gave me a quizzical look as she helped carry the bags and load them into her truck.
“Need help taking them into your room?” she asked when we arrived at my house.
“That’s okay,” I said. “I really should do my homework, after all.”
That’s all I needed to say to let Becky know something was up.
“There’s something you’re not telling me,” she said.
“You know I tell you everything—or at least everything I can share that I don’t mind Matt knowing,” I said, giving her a friendly dig.
“Fair enough,” she said. “But I’ll find out from you one way or another.”
With that, Becky drove off. As I set down my goods on the driveway and unlocked my front door, I still felt a twinge of guilt. Becky had just helped me decorate a party I wasn’t even inviting her to attend.
Dusk settled over Dullsville as I anxiously awaited Alexander’s arrival at the cemetery.
We were going to share a private moment together before discussing our final plans for the party.
It was unusually late. I realized we might have planned to meet at the Mansion. I had finally decided to head back to the entrance when I got a text. Again, it was from an unavailable number.
I’m watching you…
I was sick of Trevor bothering me, and his game was about to end. I pressed the redial button, prepared to chew him out.
I heard a ringing coming from behind me but saw no one. I rose and followed the ringing until I made my way up toward the Sterling monument.
Out from the darkness emerged Alexander, a cell phone ringing in his hand.
My heart stopped. It couldn’t be. Alexander had a cell phone—and had been texting me?
“It goes against everything you believe in.”
He smiled a broad smile.
“It was you—all along?” I asked, still shocked.
He continued to beam.
“But you sent me messages during the day,” I said, “when you were sleeping in your coffin.”
“You’re not the only one who gets insomnia.”
The image of Alexander lying in his coffin, thinking of me and texting, melted me.
“But what made you do this?”
“I’ve always wanted to sit next to you in class. Buy your lunch. Watch you study. You should have all the things a normal girl gets from her boyfriend. And by going out with me…”
“I’m not normal, though, no matter who I go out with,” I said with a laugh. “At least these Dullsvillians don’t think so.”
He put his arm around me. “You aren’t normal to me, either. You are extraordinary.”
I wrapped my arms around him.
“You should have all the good things coming to you,” he continued. “All the gifts. I don’t want you to ever doubt how much I care for you.”
I took his free hand in mine. “But this isn’t your thing. Technology. Modern conveniences.”
“It’s not about what’s my thing,” he said with a smile. “It’s about yours.”
I hugged Alexander with all my might.
“But I don’t want you to change.”
“It’s not about changing—it’s about growing, together,” he said, like the wise soul that he was. “I wanted to let you know—that I am with you. Always. Forever. We don’t have to be separated by the sun, school, or even the night. Now I’m just a click away.”
I was deeply moved by Alexander’s present to me and rewarded my vampire boyfriend with mortal kisses.
15
Party at the Mansion
I spent the following day alone, toiling around in the Mansion’s backyard while Alexander and Sebastian slept in their respective tombs. No one would be able to help me set up for the party. That’s what I got for wanting to date a vampire.
I hung the skeleton lights from the wrought-iron fence and put place mats on a coffin-lid table. I lined the crumbling walkway with votives and floor-length candelabras. The fake tombstones poked out from the dead grass. Sebastian had hooked up his sound system in the gazebo, and I decorated it with plastic bats and blinking skulls.
By the time Alexander and Sebastian awoke, I was beat. The pair was wide-eyed and freshly groomed when they found me crashed out on a sofa in the parlor room.
Alexander gently petted my hair and awakened me from my catnap.
The best sight in the world was Alexander. Even blurry, he was smoldering. His deep, dark hair melted over his ears, and his smile was heavenly.
“You’ve really outdone yourself,” he said. “The backyard looks great!”
“What time is it?” I perked up in a hurry.
“They should be here soon,” he said.
“I’m not even dressed!” I exclaimed. “And I feel like I just got out of gym class.”
I leaped up from the sofa and dashed to the upstairs bathroom.
I only had twenty minutes to clean up. I washed, dried, primped, powdered. It was something I was used to, as I normally overslept and had to get ready for school in record time.
Also, I was extra speedy because I was anxious for our party to begin, eager to see Onyx and Scarlet, and for
Sebastian to fall in love with one of them so my relationship with Becky would return to normal.
When I finished my fifteen-minute makeover, I descended the outside backstairs as if I were a contestant in a beauty pageant. Only, instead of stilettos, hose, and a white ball gown, I was in rubber lace-up boots, fishnets, and a black slip dress. I spun around in my outfit.
“Boy—you look hot!” Alexander said. He was setting up the fire pit.
“Make that double hot!” Sebastian concurred.