I gathered the hem of my dress and hurried down the front steps.
“Alexander, please. I didn’t want to dance with that jerk.”
Alexander didn’t reply.
“Please, look at me,” I said, my eyes welling with tears.
Alexander turned to me and stepped aside, revealing Henry, who was standing with him.
The pit of my stomach turned. What was Henry doing at prom?
“Where’s Billy Boy?” I asked, worried.
“He just told me he was going to Valentine’s house,” Henry said.
“He’s supposed to be grounded,” I said.
“I thought you should know.”
I gazed at Alexander, who seemed as surprised to find Henry here as I was.
“Valentine said he’d been staying with his aunt, Maria Maxwell,” Billy’s nerd-mate continued. “Since Billy’s been grounded, I had some free time, so I searched the town records for Valentine’s aunt. I couldn’t find her listed anywhere. There is not a trace of anyone here by that name. Then, tonight, Billy dropped off our Project Vampire for me to work on. I found this.”
Henry handed Alexander an eight-by-ten weathered piece of parchment paper.
It was a gravestone etching.
In jagged letters were the words:
Maria Maxwell
Beloved Aunt
1824–1922
16
Sibling Rivalry
I have to find Billy before it’s too late,” said Alexander. “Valentine is at the end of his rope. If I don’t return within an hour, have Matt drive you home.” Alexander gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and started toward his car.
“I’m going with you,” I said, following after him.
“Stay here,” he said, proceeding on. “I’ll come back for you when I’m finished.”
“I’m coming too. Billy’s my brother.”
Alexander continued cutting through the grass instead of walking on the sidewalk.
“Where does Maria Maxwell live?” I asked. “Or, I mean, where’s she buried? In Dullsville’s cemetery?”
“Henry said Billy was going to Valentine’s house. I have an idea where that might be.”
When Alexander and I reached the Mercedes, my usually gentlemanly boyfriend didn’t open the door for me. Alexander was preoccupied as he started the car. We continued to sit in silence as we drove through downtown.
“This isn’t how I imagined spending my prom,” I said. “Trevor getting even with me and now Billy Boy in harm’s way.”
“Trevor is more of a vampire than I am,” Alexander admitted. “He thinks like one and acts like one.”
“That’s why I love you,” I said. “You are a vampire with a soul.”
“While I am buried in the darkness of my coffin, I know Trevor can see you every day, share classes with you, gaze at you in the cafeteria. Things I never get to do—and will never be able to do. I know he was shoving it in my face.”
“Well, it’s a heavenly face,” I said, caressing his shoulder.
“You looked so beautiful tonight,” Alexander said as he continued to drive. “I only wish I could have been the Prom King dancing with you.”
“Well, I didn’t dance with Trevor. I gave the tiara to Jennifer Warren. She’s the most popular girl in school. I can guarantee, now that Trevor tricked both me and her, he’ll be riding home tonight in his million-dollar stretch limo alone.”
I gazed out into darkness and at the same haze-covered fields we passed a few days ago. We drove through a forgotten meadow and along a bumpy dirt path.
The car’s headlights shined on the darkened cavern and illuminated something shiny at the mouth of the cave. I quickly got out of the car. Billy Boy’s bike was outside.
“You were right!” I said proudly. “My brother’s here.”
Alexander handed me the flashlight and we crept into the darkened cave.
“Billy!” I called, but only my voice echoed back to me.
A few inches of water trickled over the stone floor as we traipsed through the dark and dank cave in our prom outfits. I held the hem of my dress up with one hand and the flashlight with the other while Alexander kindly guided me through our subterranean surroundings.
“This isn’t like Billy. He’s not this adventurous. This is something I’d do.”
“Maybe that’s why he’s doing it,” Alexander deduced. “To be more like you.”
“I thought he was trying to impress Valentine.”
“Maybe impressing you is more important to him.”
“Billy!” I called. No answer.
We reached the trickling waterfall and fanglike stalactites where Alexander and I had had our romantic interlude. Alexander and I stopped and called out to Billy again. Once again we didn’t hear an answer.
My flashlight illuminated what seemed to be a round patch on the stone floor. On further inspection, I realized it was a circle of dirt.
“This circle isn’t big enough for a coffin,” I stated.
“He’s not sleeping in a coffin,” Alexander surmised. He pointed above us. I turned my light toward the cave’s ceiling. A few bats, hanging upside down, were startled and flew off.
I gasped. “Is one of them Valentine?”
Alexander shook his head.
We continued to forge on, proceeding farther into the cave than we’d explored the last time we were here.
“Billy!” Alexander hollered.
My light caught an odd shape in front of us. At first it appeared to be a dead end. But then I realized the cave split off in two different directions.
“Which way do we go?” I asked anxiously.
“We’ll have to separate,” Alexander instructed. “We don’t have enough time to search each path together. I’ll be able to find you.”
But will we be able to find Billy? I wondered.
Alexander squeezed my hand and then let go. I flashed the light in his direction, but he was gone.
I shined my light in front of me. A chill ran through my veins. The air was cool and smelled musty. I took a deep breath and proceeded into the passageway. As I journeyed deeper into the cave, the passageway narrowed, the walls closing in on me. Soon the branch of the cave was only wide enough for one person to fit through.
Normally I’d have been exhilarated, feeling comforted by the nocturnal elements around me. Instead I was anxious. If I didn’t get to Billy Boy in time, he’d be grounded for eternity.
As I crept through the skinny passageway, the air turned chillier and the sound of trickling water grew faint. The flashlight illuminated only a small pathway before me. I averted any protruding stalagmites by reaching out before me in the blinding darkness as I continued on my way, deeper into the cave.
“Billy!” I shouted. “Billy—where are you?”
The narrow walls of the passageway suddenly opened. In the distance, I saw what appeared to be flickering lights a few yards away. Maybe Billy was flashing an SOS. I gathered the hem of my dress and hurried toward the light.
It was a lit candelabra.
“Billy!” I pointed the flashlight everywhere—the moss-carpeted walls, the rock-encrusted floor, the mile-high ceiling.
Suddenly I felt a presence standing next to me. I shined the light on the figure.
It was Billy Boy.
“Billy!” I exclaimed. I reached out and hugged my startled brother.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, surprised.
“I should be asking you that!”
I quickly checked my brother’s neck for any bite marks.
“What are you doing?”
“I just wanted to make sure you are okay.”
“I’m fine. Don’t tell Mom. I’ll be grounded again. Valentine wanted to show me this cave before he finally took me to the place where he’s been staying.”
This is where he’s been staying! I almost said.
“We came here to get more samples for our vampire project,” Billy Boy said proudly.
/> You’re the vampire project, I wanted to tell him.
“Promise you won’t snitch on Valentine. He’s from Romania and knows a lot about the history of vampires, caves, and bats.”
“But you’re terrified of bats!”
“Shh!” he whispered. “Swear you won’t tell him.”
“I swear. Now let’s go—”
“Valentine was just here,” Billy Boy said, glancing around. “We were going to meet his aunt.”
“You want to meet his aunt?” I asked. “This is Valentine’s aunt.”
I handed my brother Jagger’s gravestone etching.
Billy Boy gasped, his face turning as white as a corpse.
“But she’s…”
“I know. I warned you about Valentine. Hurry, we have to go.”
“Why would Valentine lie? Where is he?” he said, concerned. “We can’t leave him—”
“Alexander will take care of him. You and I have to leave.”
“I have to grab my backpack. Our project is inside it.”
“Forget about your—”
Before I could finish my sentence, my brother had already taken off.
Valentine stepped out of the shadows.
Weakened and wearied, Valentine appeared more deathly than ever, as if he’d been lying at the bottom of a frozen lake. His lips were ice blue and his teeth were chattering, but that didn’t stop the devilish boy from inching closer.
“Where’s Billy?” I demanded.
“More important, where are my siblings?”
“I don’t know. I already explained before that I thought they went back to Romania.”
“Well, they didn’t. Something—or someone—kept them from returning,” he said accusingly.
“Is that why you were reading Billy’s, Trevor’s, and my thoughts? To find Jagger and Luna?”
“Yes, but I read a lot more than I imagined.”
“What do you mean?”
Valentine inched closer.
“When I read Trevor’s blood, I saw a covenant by the graveyard with Grim Reapers all around. A girl in a tattered prom dress walked up the aisle. But when she lifted her veil, instead of seeing my sister’s face—I saw yours.”
“You are talking about the Graveyard Gala—Trevor’s party at the cemetery. That’s not how it happened.”
“I know, but that’s how Trevor wanted it to happen. He never wanted my sister; he settled for her because she reminded him of you.”
“I don’t believe it.”
“My family has been shamed ever since Alexander ditched my sister in Romania. Jagger came here to seek his revenge on that cowardly vampire. Then he called for my sister. Only they never called for me—because they think I’m a kid.”
“That’s normal. Billy feels left out all the time,” I tried to assure him.
“But now that I’m here, I see that you are the cause of their being shamed again,” Valentine said, advancing toward me. “Now they won’t ever return to me and my family. Neither Trevor nor Alexander wanted my sister. They both want you—and they still do.”
“I don’t know what you mean. Why would Alexander ‘still’ want me—he already has me.”
“Not completely. Remember…Alexander is a vampire, after all,” Valentine said, and flashed his fangs.
I paused.
“I’ve read his blood. He’s hungered for your flesh, blood, and soul since he laid eyes on you.”
“I don’t care what you say; you are just trying to destroy our relationship. But you can’t!”
“Or can I? How long can you two be together when one craves the blood of the other? How long will you torment him? For eternity?”
“Maybe I’m the one who’s tormented. I want to be in Alexander’s world and he wants to protect me from it—and vampires like you!”
“Valentine—you’ve said enough!” I heard a familiar voice say.
I turned around. Alexander was standing behind me.
I gazed up at Alexander’s dark eyes. Were Valentine’s words about my boyfriend correct? Alexander backed away from me.
“Valentine—you have to leave this cave and this town now,” I demanded.
“I won’t leave until I’ve gotten what I came here for. And since I can’t find my brother, I’ll have to take yours.”
Out of the darkness, Billy Boy traipsed toward me, his backpack slung over his shoulder.
Valentine grabbed my brother’s puny arm and lifted his wrist to his mouth.
“What are you doing?” Billy Boy asked.
Valentine smiled a wicked grin and flashed his fangs.
“No!” I cried.
Valentine opened his mouth wide and began to bear down on my brother’s wrist.
I shined the flashlight on Valentine’s face. His green eyes turned crystal white, then bloodred.
Valentine let out a horrible yell and withdrew his grip from my brother’s wrist. He covered his face from the light and recoiled into the shadows.
17
Project Vampire
Valentine lay in the cave, appearing more ghastly than ever, his lips blue and his skin paler than a corpse’s.
“Valentine’s not moving,” I said. “I think I…”
Alexander scooped the limp vampire up in his arms. Billy Boy was visibly shaken. I held his trembling hand and led him back through the cave.
When we reached the entrance, Billy grabbed his bike while Alexander and I put Valentine in the car.
As Alexander laid the weary Valentine on the backseat, the preteen vampire struggled to open his eyes.
“I tried,” Valentine whispered to Alexander, “but I couldn’t do it.”
“Try to save your breath,” Alexander warned.
Valentine clutched my boyfriend’s arm. “When I spent the night at Billy’s and read his blood in search of my siblings, I found out something else instead. Billy was peacefully dreaming about his family: his mother, father, and Raven. I couldn’t take him away from that. Jagger and Luna were right to exclude me. I am not like them after all.”
Alexander placed a warm blanket around the boy and I sat with him as he lay down, his breathing labored.
Billy Boy disassembled the front wheel from his bike, and Alexander helped place it in the trunk. I joined my brother in the passenger seat of the Mercedes.
“I got you this,” Billy Boy said, handing me a bat-shaped rock he’d found in the cave. “I thought you’d think it was cool.”
Mortal or vampire, Valentine and Billy Boy were just like any other boys their age—desperately fighting to be seen by their older siblings as anything but a child.
When Alexander, Billy Boy, Valentine, and I arrived back at Benson Hill, Henry was waiting for us on the uneven steps of the Mansion.
As if on cue, Jameson opened the heavy Mansion door. Alexander carried Valentine up the grand staircase as the nerd-mates and I followed into the foyer.
“Wow! This place is huge!” Henry exclaimed.
“And spooky. There must be dozens of ghosts in here,” my brother added.
Jameson directed Henry, Billy Boy, and me to wait in the parlor while the creepy man busied himself in the kitchen.
The parlor was the same as always—a simple desk, a shelf of dusty books, and a few antique Victorian chairs.
“There isn’t much to look at in here besides dust,” Henry observed. “I’d love to take a tour of the Mansion.”
“That isn’t possible right now.”
My brother plopped into a chair while Henry opened a few ancient books that didn’t appear to have been touched since the Mansion had been built.
“Why isn’t Alexander taking him to a doctor?” Billy Boy asked.
“It’s hard to explain,” I answered.
“Henry and I are members of the chess, math, and astronomy clubs. I think if it’s a concept you understand, we can comprehend it too.”
I groaned. “Alexander can help Valentine out more than a doctor can. It’s something about being from Roman
ia.”
Jameson, carrying a tray of bottles filled with red liquid, hurried up the grand staircase.
The boys looked at each other incredulously.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Billy Boy asked Henry.
“I’m surprised we didn’t figure it out sooner,” the nerd-mate replied.
“We were looking at the wrong subject!” Billy Boy said. “Now it all makes sense.”
“Not only will we get an A,” Henry concluded, “but we may get a scholarship to MIT.”
“What are you two talking about?” I asked.
“Our subject for Project Vampire,” Henry replied matter-of-factly. “He’s lying upstairs.”
“Are you crazy?” I asked.
The two boys pulled their chairs toward mine and leaned in to me like they were about to divulge a major secret.
“The truth lies in the proof,” Billy Boy pronounced. “One, I saw a green-eyed bat hanging outside my room. Valentine has green eyes.”
“Two,” Henry chimed in. “Valentine was looking for my tree house. Then one day, hanging on a limb we found blood-filled amulets.”
“Three,” Billy Boy added. “Valentine is from Romania.”
“Four, he was living in a cave.”
“Five,” my brother continued. “Valentine’s deathly allergic to garlic.”
“Six,” Henry added. “He tried to have us become blood brothers.”
“Seven, he tried to bite me,” Billy Boy argued.
“I tried to bite you last year!” I countered.
Billy Boy stopped and geared up for his verdict. “We think Valentine is a vampire.”
“That project has gone to your head.” I laughed.
“Then this won’t matter,” my brother challenged, extending his hand toward his nerd-mate’s backpack. “Henry…”
The wunderkind unzipped his navy blue sack. He held out a small rectangular mirror.
“When Valentine comes down,” Billy Boy said, “then we’ll see. Or we’ll observe what we don’t see.”
The boys stared at me proudly like two nerdy Sherlock Holmeses.
I was floored. Billy and Henry, the nerd-mate supersleuths, were on the cusp of proving that Valentine was indeed a real vampire.