The Vampire Christopher (2 page)

As I entered
the kitchen,
a brief knock sounded
at
the back door, followed by
Heathcliff, Bart, Gabe, and Dorian
.
They were a breath of fresh air, full of exuberance, and raw energy.

“Hey, Snow,” Dorian said, closing the door behind him.

Gabe
carried
a l
arge book
. He held it like its contents
were
leprous
, and
I had to
grin
.
“Hi, guys.”

Heathcliff and Bart
returned my greeting as they
made themselves at home, rummaging
through my fridge and cupboards, grumbling about how I had nothing good to eat
. Bart
started a pot of coffee
, and
Heathcliff, ever the responsible one,
put some water on for my tea.

I
quickly got Gat
sby his kibble
and so
me water
.
When
the cat was happily eating, I turned my attention to Gabe
. “What
ya
got there?”
I
sat on a
bar
stool and
swiveled
closer.

He glanced around sheepishly before
heaving the book on the counter
. Moments before I saw the cover
up close,
I’d
imagined it to be a book from Professor Pops
’
Museum of the Supernatural, and worried Gabe
stole
it. Turned out to be nothing
mystical
.
Just
a
book of dresses by
the
designer,
Vera Wang.

I was
most definitely not a
fashionista
.
On the contrary, I didn’t even really know what the
word meant, only that Cindy used it a lot when show
ing me clothes
from her
magazines, but I had heard of Vera Wang, and knew she was a big time designer.

Whoa!

“Professor Pops asked me to bring this to you so that you could go through it and pick out a dress.”

I laughed, uncomfortably. “A dress, for what?”

“Your birthday party, silly,” Bart said,
pulling
my
hair
.

“Dude,” Gabe yelled.

“Boys, chill,” I said,
putting a hand on each of their chests. The individual beating of their hear
t
s momentarily distracted me. It
didn’t make my mouth water, just caused me to pause.

Interesting, my inner voice said.

Focusing my attention on Bart, I asked, “Why do I need a fancy dress for my party?”

He
snickered
as he pulled an envelope from his back pocket, and handed it to me. “You’ve created a monster by allowing Pops to be in charge of your party, and there’s no turning back. Salvatore is taking three hundred of these to the post office
as we speak
.”

I took the envelope.
Glancing at each of the boys, my emotions spiraled
from curious, to
concerned
, to downright freaked. “What is it?” I asked, though I
figured
it was an invitation to my birt
hday party. My hands shook as I turned the envelope over.
S
ea
led with red wax, a
SW
was
stamped in it. “Cool,” I mumbled, breaking it, and removing the
thick,
white
cardstock
.
Emboldened in black
, and
lined with silver were these words:

You are cordially invited to
attend
a

Masquerade Ball

Honoring the
sixteenth birthday

Of

Snow White

On

November 17
th

Beginning at 7:30 pm

There will be dinner and dancing.

Formal dress required
.

…
a
nd
some other stuff. My mind couldn’t g
et over the words,
Masquerade Ball
.

Chapter 2

S
ee,
I
didn’t dance. The last time I tried, I tripped over my
partner’s
feet, and ended up breaking his wrist.
Needless to say,
we still weren’t speaking, and the
not-so-graceful event
happened in
fifth grade.

At the idea of dancing in front of a bunch of people
, terror caused m
y upper lip to tremble. “A Ball
? What is Professor Pops thinking?”

They shrugged,
grumbling incoh
erent words that I took to mean they weren’t excited about the party concept either.  With petulant faces, and irritated glares, they
shuffled around
, getting mugs for the coffee, creamer, and sugar
.
The kitchen smelled divine—not that I was ever a real big coffee drinker.
More of a hot cocoa girl.
But the
aroma
filled me with nostalgic memories of my mom, m
aking me miss her all the more.

“Here you go
,
”
Heathcliff
said, setting
a mug of murky liquid in front of me
.

I was about to decline
, but got a whiff of it. It wasn’t coffee, but tea.
My bloodlust tea.

“Thanks
.
”
I smiled
.
Their blood
wasn’t
a distraction this morning.
I wondered if
that had something to do with me
drinking Chace’s blood last night. Self co
nsciously, I tugged the scarf fa
rther up my neck
, and caught D
orian
watching
,
his eyes flickering to my neck, the scarf, and my mouth.
His
examination
told me what he thought.
A slow tendril of heat started in my belly and
worked its way up
.
I silently prayed he wouldn’t say anything, at least not in front of
his
brothers.

“No
prob
, Snow,”
Heathcliff
said
. He went over and poured himself a cup of coffee.

Gabe cleared his throat
, and I turned my attention to him
,
taking a sip of tea.

“So you need to pick out a dress in the next co
uple of days, and let Pops know,
”
he said
.

“If it
’
s any consolation, we’ll be wearing t
uxes,” Heathcliff said irritated
, reading the terrorized look I was sure coated my face
.

I
giggled
at his agitation
,
swallowed some tea
,
and
then said,
“You’ll look amazing in a tuxedo.” I
rotated
to include Bart, Dorian, and Gabe. “You all will.” I
pulled the book closer, and flipped through the pages. All of the dre
sses were
beautiful
, airy, and light
. I couldn’t imagine
trying to
move
around in something so elegant.

The gu
ys crowded around
,
each
commenting
on
which one they thought would suit me be
st. I cringed at
wearing any of them
, and
considered
speaking
to Professor Pops.

Gats
by jumped onto a chair, and onto the counter, rubbing
his body along one of my arms.

“
Hey
, boy.
What do you think of all this?
” I set him on the ground
.
The g
uys were still occupied with
dresses,
well, probably the models in
side
the dresses,
and I smiled. “I love yo
u guys,” I blurted. They
looked over, their
expressions amused
.
I laughed
, embarrassed by my sudden outburst
.

“Love you too, Sno
w,” Bart
and Heathcliff returned
.

G
abe gave me a curious look.
Dorian came over and
stage
whispered
, as he tugged on my scarf
. “Love you too.” I shoved him away, trying
to keep my
flush
from showing
.
I didn’t want Gabe thinking it was Dorian’s comment that made me redden, and I certainly didn’t want to tell them it was because of what I’d hidden under my scarf.
Casually,
I
fixed
it
so
the soft, blue scarf
better
covered my neck. I’d sooner die than explain the bruises
they would think were hicke
ys.
And technically they were.

Dorian added,
“Love your shirt, too.
” He
poked his pointer finger into my chest.
I looked down, and he flicked me in the nose.

“You’re such a…” I paused and watched his eyes dance. “Total tease,” I finished.

He grinned from ear to ear. “It’s all part of my charm.”

Bart said, “We’d better get to school
.”

“Right, you need another tardy like you need a punch in the face.” Both guys
grunted
, and started play fighting.

“H
ave you
finished
your
tea?” Heathcliff a
sked
.

I
gulped down
the last of it, and nodded.
“Yep,” I answered,
the
n
asked, “W
ho’s training me
today?” I hoped Professor Pops had talked to them, and they knew what I meant?

“M
e,” Dorian said
, rewarding me
with
a piercing stare
.

My mouth went dry. I’d have to train with these hickeys on my neck. What would Dorian say? Why hadn’t Gabe volunt
eered? Sneaking a glance at him
, my heart sank.
There was something
bothering
him
. He wasn’t teasing
. Had he already grown tired of me? Not that I could blame him. Even though he didn’t know it, I certainly hadn’t acted like he and I
might be a couple, especially
last night when I made out with Chace. “Okay,” I said, suppressing a sad sigh.

“We
gotta
go,
”
Heathcliff said, g
rab
bing Dorian by the arm.
“
See
ya
later, Snow
.”
Bart followed them out.

I waved, giving Gabe a questioning look. “Did you get stuck taking me again?” I
turned
the pages of the book, but my eyes kept finding Gabe’s.

“I vo
lunteered,” he
answered
, picking
my hefty backpack
off the table
and
lobbing
it onto his shoulder. “Come on.”

Following Gabe out, I locked the door
and shoved the house
keys in my
pocket
.

When w
e were buckled in his silver CRX, Gabe said, “I think we should talk.”

“Sure,” I said, turning toward
him. Then I noticed the seriousness
on his face, and my stomach clenched.