Discarded boxes, trash, and beer cans were scattered around the grounds.
We turned a corner and came upona vintage black mustang--Sebastian's ride.
Alexander stopped in his tracks. He sighed and slumped, let down by the discovery that his best friend was in the company of his former nemesis.
"Maybe Sebastianfelt he had nowhere else to go," Ioffered encouragingly.
"Now that he's fallenfor Luna,"Alexander said, "he's probablyunder Jagger's spell, too."
Alexander took a deep breathand started for a white woodendoor withthe words "GETOUT" spray-painted in black.
"Well, thenIguess we're going in," Isaid.
But instead of charging in, Alexander stopped.
"Maybe we should wait," he said, pausing at the doorway. "Theyobviouslydidn't want us to know that they're still here. Maybe we shouldn't let them know we found them."
"But how are we going to find out what's going onwiththem?"
"I could go in myself--undetected," he said, alluding to his nocturnal powers.
"That hardlyseems fair," Isaid withthe disappointment of a child who is told she is too short to go on an amusement park ride. "If Icould change into a bat, I'd do it, too."
Alexander realized my limitations were upsetting me.
"Besides," Isaid, "it might be dangerous to leave me here alone inthis dark, desolate place."
He nodded inagreement. "We'll see what we canfind out from here."Alexander cupped his pale and once bloodstained palm. I stuck my combat-booted foot in his cradled hands and he lifted me up. I struggled at first but managed to grab on to a ledge and pulled my head slightly above it so I could peer in through a broken windowpane. My black fingernails were in stark contrast with the gray cement.
Breathless, I peered in. At first it was hard to see. My vision had to adjust to the dim lighting. A flickering candelabra sat on a wooden table, and then I spotted a flash of white hair.
"Over there," Iwhispered toAlexander.
He adjusted his stance a few feet to our left to where I could now see clearly. Jagger was sitting with his back to me, his red-flamed Doc Martens boots resting up on a crate and his fingers woven together, supporting his white-haired head. He was the king of this crumbling castle. Sebastian, however, was fidgety.Alexander's best friend repeatedlypushed his dreadlocks awayfrom his face, his manyrings catching the candlelight. He didn't see me;perhaps the glare from the light above them hid me or he was so deep inthought he wasn't focused onanything else. He tapped his leg repeatedly, like a junkie waiting for a fix. I'd never seenhim this frazzled.
"We'll need to start tomorrow," Jagger declared, "to get this thing up and running."
"So soon?" Sebastianasked.
"What are we waiting for?" Jagger countered.
Sebastian drummed his black-painted fingers on the table.
But Jagger andAlexander now had a truce, and Jagger wouldn't do anything to jeopardize that--or would he?
"The CoffinClub is a success," Jagger said. "So there's no reasonnot to start one here, too."
"This townisn't filled withvampires," Sebastiansaid. "Not like the other one, anyway."
"This townneeds a place to dance," Jagger said. "For everyone to come alive--at night."
Sebastiancouldn't argue withthat. "Iagree--there isn't anything to do inthis town."
"And thenthe vampires will flock here. Like we did.Alexander, Luna and me, and now you. Mortals above and vampires below. The Coffin Club was a success and this one will be, too. We are sitting on a gold mine here in this abandoned factory."
"The CoffinClub Two?" Sebastiansaid.
"Ialreadyhave a name for it: the Crypt."