Then we can do that.
It`s a date.
A date? With Devon?
She nodded. I`m a terrible aunt, she said. Devon called me at lunch today. He asked me out for tonight and before I knew it I had said yes.
That`s okay.
No, it was the wrong thing to do. I`ll call and cancel, she said, reaching for her cordless phone on the kitchen counter.
Don`t even think about it, I said, seizing it first.
Then you`ll have to come.
Are you kidding? On your first date? Even I know that would be a disaster.
Please, I can`t leave you behind again. A sixteen-year-old doesn`t want to hang out at her aunt`s apartment alone. I know that`s why you snuck out last night and showed up at my class--because you were bored.
A sixteen-year-old also doesn`t want to go on a date with her aunt and her new beau, either, I thought but couldn`t say. I won`t be bored tonight. I promise. I have summer reading I can get a head start on.
She raised her eyebrow. You are getting to be more like your father than I thought you were.
Or at least Billy Boy.
Chapter 7 Dancing with the Dead
Alexander and I arrived at the Coffin Club to find Phoenix`s motorcycle already parked in the VIP spot. Wow, that`s a cool bike, Alexander commented when we passed it. What do you think?
I think it`s cool, but not half as cool as you are, I replied, squeezing his hand as we continued to walk by the procession of clubgoers.
I imagined Phoenix waltzing into the club as if he were royalty while my boyfriend and I stood at the back of the line.
But really, where else on earth would I rather be? Alexander was by my side, and soon I would have my wish come true. It would be a night to remember.
Still, I couldn`t help but let my mind stray. Alexander, after all, was a vampire. He could get a key and lifetime membership to the Dungeon in two shakes of a fang. However, if I told Alexander I`d already been there, without him, he`d be furious. And he would know I`d been to the underground club if I mentioned seeing Jagger. As far as Alexander knew, Jagger had returned to Romania, and likewise Jagger probably thought Alexander was back in Dullsville. It wasn`t my place to disclose their locations. I`d caused Alexander enough problems in the past--I had led Jagger from Hipsterville right to Alexander. It would be difficult, but I`d have to keep my black lips sewn shut.
Alexander and I proudly entered the Coffin Club, hand in hand, like we were stars entering a party. We were so used to being outsiders, it felt good to finally enter a place filled with people who looked just like us.
I felt euphoric standing underneath the lifeless mannequins with my very own vampire boyfriend. The crowd and music were even more pumped up than they were the previous night. This time the clubsters weren`t so focused on themselves. In fact, the girls were ogling my date! At first I thought it was fun, as if I`d arrived on the arm of a rock star. After a few minutes of every cle**age-showing, miniskirt-wearing girl checking him out, I was getting jealous. Didn`t they know I was standing right next to him? A few guys looked me over, but every girl we passed stared at Alexander like he was Criss Angel performing magic.
Finally I drew him over to the bar. Don`t you notice that?
Notice what? he asked naively.
The girls?
What girls?
Hello! You were worried about bringing me to a bar when all along I should have been concerned about bringing you.
I don`t know what you are talking about, he said seriously.
The girls are drooling all over you!
Alexander blushed, then laughed gently.
Well, there is only one girl I want to be with and she`s right here, he said.
The bartender, a robust woman who appeared to have been bartending since they invented beer, asked us for our drink order.
Alexander and I cooled off with nonalcoholic Guillotines.
Alexander looked heavenly against the backdrop of neon tombstones, his soulful eyes gently gazing into mine. He appeared as happy as I`d ever seen him, as if he didn`t want to be anywhere else in the world but together at this club. His arm lay protectively around me, our fingers entwined. Yet I felt a pang of loneliness for Alexander. He spent so much time up in his attic room, alone, whether in Dullsville or Hipsterville, his only full-time companion being his creepy yet caring butler. I was excited to be part of Alexander`s night life tonight.
Of course, I couldn`t help but wonder what was going on down in the Dungeon. Were new members being brought in? Where were they from? Were Phoenix and Jagger getting in each other`s faces? I was dying to share the underground club with Alexander, but a culture full of bloodthirsty vampires is exactly what Alexander had left behind in Romania. He was much happier in an environment where mortals dressed like vampires rather than one where vampires dressed like mortals. And even if I`d wanted to, I wasn`t sure I`d be able to find the secret coffin- shaped door.
You seem distracted, Alexander remarked.
I was just thinking of you, actually.
Well, you don`t have to think about me. I`m right here. He leaned over and gave me a lip-lock that sent shivers down to my boots. He placed our drinks on the bar, grabbed my hand, and led me to the dance floor.
For the next hour, we danced, thrashed, and jammed, all the while forgetting the difference between mortal and immortal.
As the DJ spun the end of one song into the start of another, I took a moment to catch my breath. Stretching out my neck, I spotted a figure up on the balcony, seated on a coffin-shaped couch, the candelabra before him illuminating his ghost white hair, the ends bloodred.
I grabbed Alexander by the arm and dragged him to another end of the dance floor, hidden from the balcony`s view. I didn`t want Jagger to spill the beans to Alexander that I`d been spotted at the Dungeon. I wanted to tell Alexander on my own.
What did you do that for?
I just thought it would be fun if we got cozy.
But it`s so crowded back here, it`s hard to breathe. Why don`t we go over there and relax, he suggested, pointing to couches on the side of the dance floor.
That`s all right...
You look a bit tired. It`s okay if we take a break. He pulled me out from underneath the balcony`s overhang.
Alexander was heading for the main part of the dance floor, in full view of the balcony.
No, I said, tugging him back.
What`s wrong?
I want to sit down.
But the seats are over there.
Alexander looked at me with curious and confused eyes. If I told him that Jagger was still in town, he`d stay in Hipsterville even longer. I`d be forcing him to remain in town indefinitely, perhaps longer than whatever was mysteriously holding him here in the first place.
C`mon, he said. Let`s go.
But I was more concerned about Alexander`s safety. Even though he and Jagger had reconciled, I wasn`t sure how Jagger would react to our presence in the club. I just saw... I began. I mean, I think I saw...