"There is only one empty grave. He needs two now."
As we quickly walked through the cemetery, I imagined Jagger sitting underneath the dead tree, secluded in the back of the cemetery, waiting for Luna to arrive from Romania. He would be tipping back several amulets, like the tiny bottles of liquor anxious travelers sip on airplanes, while he plotted her visit and their next location.
"Shouldn't we continue searching for Luna?" I asked Alexander as we approached my house on our way back from Dullsville's cemetery. I wasn't ready for my vampire hunting to end.
But instead of walking hand in hand with Alexander, his hands were buried in his pockets. He seemed unusually cold and distant.
"I think your cemetery searching days are over," he said sternly.
"You're mad at me for not listening?" I asked, sincerely concerned.
Alexander stopped and turned to me. "You put yourself in grave danger. I only want you to be safe."
"But if Jagger thinks I am a vampire, I was safer in the cemetery," I said, attempting to cozy up to him.
"You may be right. But…" He folded his arms, leaned against a parked SUV, and looked toward the moon.
It was one thing to push my parents over the edge with my princess of darkness wardrobe, or to stay out past curfew, or even to boss Becky into climbing over the Mansion's gate or to convince her to sneak into movies, but I'd never felt as rotten as I now did, disappointing the one person who meant the most to me.
"I should have listened," I admitted.
He put his hands back in his oversized pockets and avoided eye contact.
"I want so badly to be a part of your world," I said, knitting my arms through his.
"I want to taste the adventure alongside you."
Alexander softened and gently stroked my hair. "You are already a part of my world," he said with a smile that lit up his pale face. "You know that. I'm just asking you to be careful."
"I understand. I just don't want us to be apart—even for a moment. But I'll try harder."
Alexander grabbed my hand and we continued down the street, past houses, trees, and mailboxes.
"Okay now, I have to come up with a plan," he said.
"Plan? I'm all about plans! Where do we start?"
Alexander looked buried in thought and led me toward my house.
"I still want to hang out," I whined. "Darkness is our only time together," I continued, staring up into his midnight eyes.
"I know, but-—" "And daylight seems like an eternity without you. I have to endure unbearably boring teachers, classmates who ostracize me, and two yuppie parents who don't get black lipstick."
"I feel the same," he revealed, stopping at the bottom of my driveway. "Except for me it's not daylight, but starlight and moonlight. During the long midnight hours, I hang out underneath your window and imagine what you're dreaming of. I used to thrive in the darkness; now I almost resent it."
Alexander and I walked up my driveway. Instead of taking the path that led to my front door, Alexander escorted me toward my backyard.
"Yay! We can't let Jagger spoil our night," I cheered.
"We do have to be careful," he warned. "But you're right. I'm not ready to say good-bye just yet," he confessed. "Not now, not ever."
Suddenly a motion detector light above the garage triggered, illuminating the driveway, Billy Boy's basketball hoop, Mom's SUV, and a mortal girl and her vampire boyfriend.
"No!" Alexander shouted. He quickly shielded his pale face and retreated into the shadows.
"Are you all right?" I called, squinting into the darkness.
Alexander didn't answer. I followed him into the grass, toward our east-side neighbor's fence.
It took a moment for my eyes to adjust, though I still couldn't see him.
"Alexander, where are you? Are you hurt?"
I heard a fluttering above the power lines behind me. I followed the sound, which continued back over the driveway in the opposite direction from where I had been standing. When I walked through my backyard, there was a rustling in the bushes by our west-side neighbor's fence. Alexander was standing in front of them.
"How did you get over here so fast?" I asked curiously, all the while knowing the answer. "That was cool. It's like dating a superhero."
Alexander dusted off his black jeans, unfazed by his unearthly abilities.
"Are you okay?" I asked. Before he could answer, I was in his arms.
"Now that you are with me," he said, caressing my hair.
"I forgot—" "I didn't melt," he said. "I can handle softer light, like candles or lamps. But a burst of high-powered light repels me."
"I didn't even think—," I began when he pulled back and placed his frosty white index finger on my black lips.
"I'll be able to think better out here," he said, and stared up to the sky. "With you, underneath the stars. We don't have much time."
He led me over to the rickety wooden swing set Billy Boy and I had outgrown but my parents hadn't bothered to get rid of.
"It's been an eternity since I've hung out here," I told him. I could feel my pale face flush, exhilarated that I was finally able to share a place I'd spent in childhood isolation. "I used to bury my Barbies over there," I said, pointing to a mound of soil underneath an oak tree.
We each sat on a faded yellow plastic swing.
I began swinging, but Alexander remained still. He picked up twigs and threw them into the bushes, as if he were tossing Jagger out of Dullsville…
I skidded my combat boots into the weathered patches of grass.
"What's wrong?" I asked, now standing before him…, Alexander pulled me close. "It's hard for me to relax, knowing Jagger and Luna are still plotting revenge."
"Well, let's think like them. If he isn't in a cemetery and we don't have a Coffin Club in Dullsville, where could they be?"
"I know we are both vampires, but our instincts are different. He sees the world in black and red—blood red. I see the world in all different colors."
I grabbed his icy hand and fingered his spider ring.