"Where's Becky already!" he yelled, now playing for my team. "You need to leave!"
Suddenly the doorbell rang and we both flew down the steps. "Where were you?" I asked.
Becky sauntered in with a box of microwave popcorn. "I thought you said eight."
"I have to be there at eight!"
"Shoot, and I thought I was early. Take the truck," she said, handing me her keys.
"Thanks. How do I look?" I asked, modeling my outfit.
"Wicked!" "Really? Thanks!"
"You look like an angel of the night," my baby brother added.
I glanced in the hallway mirror and smiled. It might be the last time I would actually be able to see my reflection.
"Have fun, you two, and take good care of Billy, okay?"
"Who?" she asked, puzzled.
"Billy. My brother."
They both laughed. I grabbed my jacket and flew out of there like a bat.
Some hideous Dullsvillians had spray-painted GO HOME FREAKS! on the crumbling brick wall by the Mansion gate. It could have been Trevor. It could have been anyone. I felt an emptiness in my stomach.
I guess the Sterlings didn't get many visitors--there was no buzzer on the gate. Was I supposed to wait there, or climb over? But then I realized the gate was open. For me. I walked up the long driveway, looking at the curtained attic window, hoping I would be able to finally see it from the inside.
Anything could happen tonight. I really didn't know what to expect. What would we be eating for dinner? What do vampires eat anyway?
I gently rapped the serpent knocker.
The huge door slowly opened and Creepy Man greeted me with his crackly smile. "So glad you could come," he said in his thick European accent, straight out of a black-and-white horror flick. "May I take your coat?"
He took my leather jacket somewhere.
I stood in the hallway, peering for signs of anything that seemed threatening. Where was my dinner partner anyway?
"Alexander will be joining you in a few minutes," Creepy said, returning. "Would you like to sit in the drawing room until he comes down?"
"Sure," I agreed, and was led to a huge room next to the living room. It was decorated simply with two scarlet Victorian chairs and a chaise longue. The only thing that didn't look dusty and old was the baby grand piano in the corner. Creepy Man left again and I took the opportunity to snoop around. There were leather-bound books in some foreign language, dusty music scores, and old crinkly maps, and this wasn't even their library.
I caressed the smooth oak desk. What secrets lay inside its drawers? Then I felt that same unseen presence I had felt the last time I visited the Mansion. Alexander had come into the room.
He stood, mysteriously handsome. His hair was sleek and he wore a silk black shirt hanging over black jeans. I was anxious to see if he was wearing the spider ring, but he held his hands behind his back.
"I'm sorry I'm late. I was waiting for the baby-sitter," I confessed.
"You have a baby?"
"No, a brother!"
"Right," he said with an awkward laugh, his pale face coming to life. He was even more handsome than Trevor but didn't come off as self-assured, more like a wounded bird that needed to be held. As if he'd been living in a dungeon all his life and this was the first time he'd seen another human. He seemed uncomfortable with conversation and chose his words carefully, as if once spoken he might never get them back.
"I'm sorry I kept you waiting," he began. "I was getting you these." And he timidly held out five wildflowers.
Flowers? No way!