Olivia imagined a huge, dim underground crypt, filled with enormous vats of swirling red liquid. Spigots dripped gruesomely, and bloodsoaked napkins littered the floor. Before she knew it, she and Sophia were walking through the store doors and it was too late to flee.
As they walked down aisle nine, questions flooded Olivia’s mind. How much blood would be needed to satisfy every vampire in Franklin Grove? How many vampires were there in Franklin Grove, anyway? Dozens? Hundreds? Thousands?
She and Sophia came upon the same noseringed stock boy with the midnight stubble.
Maybe that wasn’t cranberry juice he was stacking after all! Olivia thought. Her heart raced. He must be a vampire since he opens the door.What if he can smell my fear? She put her hand to her neck and started hyperventilating.
Sophia gave her a weird look. “You’re breathing like a horse,” she said. Then she turned to the stock boy and said, “Pumpernickel.” He obediently unlocked the staff door, and Olivia scurried past him, trying to avoid eye contact.
The dark staircase creaked with every step. Olivia thought she heard laughter, then creatures scurrying in the walls, then the sound of liquid running ominously in pipes. She was scared of tripping and tumbling down the stairs, but she was even more scared of placing a hand on the wall to steady herself. What if it was damp? At last they reached the narrow hallway at the bottom. Olivia trailed farther and farther behind, terror making Ivy’s boots feel even heavier than usual. She passed the first mysterious unmarked door. It was huge and made of dark, brushed metal. It also had a slot to look through so that those inside could see who was outside wanting to come in. The shutter over the slot was closed, but Olivia could hear talking and laughing from a crowd inside.
BloodMart! Olivia thought. On the other side of that door, vampires are thirstily drinking BLOOD! She lurched forward, feeling sick. She put her hands on her knees. Ivy’s black fishnet stockings crawled like spiders beneath her fingers.
“Will you come on?” Sophia called from up ahead.
Olivia thought if she tried to stand up again right now she’d puke.
Sophia’s footsteps came closer. “Ivy, relax,” she said. “I know you have cold feet about being head of decorations, but it’s just a meeting. Besides, you’re already doing a killer job.”
Then she grabbed Olivia’s hand and dragged her to the door at the end of the hall.
The vampires were waiting within: Vera, with her startling shock of white hair, Raymond, with his fiendishly bald head, Anise, as gaunt and hollow eyed as an ex-lover of Count Vira. The Beasts, looking more bloodthirsty and beastly than ever.
Melissa, with her officious manner and disarmingly chunky glasses, offered Olivia some punch. Olivia declined. “Oatmeal raisin cookie?” Melissa tried. Olivia shook her head like a zombie.
Now all the vampires were taking their places around the sacrificial slab of a table.
“May the Secret be cloaked in darkness,” Melissa intoned solemnly.
“And never see light of day,” came the response. Olivia collapsed into her seat.
“Okay, people,” Melissa began, flipping through her notes. “First item on the agenda is decorations. Ivy?”
Olivia couldn’t speak. All the vampires were looking at her with their contact-lens-covered eyes.
“Ivy?” Melissa said again.
Sophia pinched her hard, and Olivia jumped. She reached into Ivy’s black velvet messenger bag and pulled out her white All Hallows’ Ball— Decorations folder.
The papers rustled in Olivia’s trembling hand. “Take one and pass them on,” she whispered.
Olivia stumbled through her presentation. She’d organized her ideas into two categories: “Big Things,” which included stuff like the centerpieces—fake tombstones featuring celebrity vampires’ names, surrounded by bouquets of white lilies—and “Little Things,” which included random stuff like rubber spiders, bats, cobwebs, flaming torches, and so on.
Even through her haze, Olivia could tell that the committee, in its Goth way, was pleased. Almost against her will, she started feeling better.
Oh, my gosh, she thought nervously, I might actually make it through this meeting without losing my mind, being bitten by a vampire, or driving a stake through anyone’s heart!
She’d saved the best idea for last: a bunch of old vampire movie posters she’d found on eBay.
“That sucks!” Anise declared, and everyone nodded. Olivia smiled in spite of herself.
One of the Beasts cleared his throat. “I have an idea,” he said, a devilish grin spreading across his face.
Olivia’s pulse quickened.
He held up a long, pale finger. “A decoration that’s cheap and plentiful.”
“Let’s hear it,” Melissa invited reluctantly.