Dance With a Vampire by Ellen Schreiber Read Free Book Online Page B

transaction. “Why don’t you come with me…”
    Jack motioned us behind the sales counter and we followed him down a hallway. “A few gowns just arrived this afternoon. It’s been so busy, we haven’t even had the chance to put them on the floor,” he whispered. He unlocked a storeroom and led us through boxes of merchandise and hanging layaways to a rack of fancy junior dresses. “Take your time. If you are interested in anything, bring it to the sales desk.”
    “What are these?” I asked, pointing to a rack of costumes.
    “Inventory from Halloween,” he answered, heading for the door.
    “Halloween?” my mother asked, horrified. “You’re going to prom, not a Monster Mash.”
    “Please. Let me see!” I said, pushing past a rack of men’s suits. “Thank you, Jack!”
    “Yes, Jack. Thank you for all your help,” my mother added.
    I was as happy as a bat in a dusty old attic.
    I rummaged through the hanging costumes—a fairy costume, a firefighter uniform, and a mermaid outfit.
    “This is cool,” I said, holding up a red devil dress.
    “Absolutely not!” my mother said.
    I frowned and returned it to the rack.
    “This is not what I had in mind when I said let’s buy a dress for prom. Shopping in a storeroom,” she said, continuing her search. “However…take a look at this one.”
    I didn’t even notice what my mom was holding up.

    At the end of the rack, I saw a blood red skirt with black lace calling my name. I pulled the dress out and gasped.
    On a hanger hung a dark red corset with black lace, black strings, and a matching ankle-length skirt.
    Attached to the hanger was the most fabulous accessory I’d ever seen: a gloomy parasol.
    “I love it!” I exclaimed, showing it to my mother. “It’s not torn, and it doesn’t have staples or safety pins.”
    My mother paused. “It’s not really what I had in mind…”
    I modeled it over my clothes and danced around.
    “I wanted you to look like a modern-day princess, not a Victorian vampire.”
    “Isn’t it wonderful?”
    I gave my mother a huge squeeze.
    Madge had sold hundreds of dresses in her time at Jack’s, but by the way she forced her smile, I don’t think she’d ever rung up a Halloween outfit for prom. However, the old woman did her best to mask her shock and dismay. “You can be confident that no one else will be wearing this dress,” she proclaimed.
    Between my mother and me, we finally compromised on a dress that suited her budget and wasn’t one I’d have to change out of as soon as I got to prom.

    That evening, Alexander was waiting for me outside the Mansion door, the serpent knocker eyeing me like an old friend. My vampire boyfriend was sporting tight black drill jeans with black buckles running down the side, a Crow T-shirt, and his backpack slung over one shoulder. He gave me a sweet hello kiss.
    “Are we going back to the treehouse? Or going camping?” I asked coyly.
    “Last night I returned to the treehouse to retrieve Jagger’s gravestone etchings. They were gone.”
    “Valentine?” I asked.

    “I assume so. Valentine won’t be back to the treehouse for a while. It would be too risky for him.”
    “Then how will we ever find him?”
    “We’ll have to lead him to us. Remember the box of blood-filled amulets that Jagger received from the Coffin Club that I found in the cemetery? Jagger used them to sustain himself so he’d go unnoticed here in Dullsville. I’ve got some in here,” Alexander said, patting his backpack. “We can leave a few for Valentine at a couple locations. That way we can tell where he’s been.”

    We tied several amulets to one of the limbs of the treehouse before heading off in the Mercedes to Dullsville’s cemetery.
    “Valentine has to be hiding out somewhere,” Alexander stated as he parked the car beside the cemetery.
    Alexander held my hand as we headed up the sidewalk to the graveyard’s entrance.
    “I shouldn’t be on sacred ground, should I?” I asked when we