"That sounds like a fun and very different family vacation," my dad said.
"Thank you again for inviting us, Mrs. Madison. You are a wonderful cook," Alexander blurted.
"We have plenty more pasta," my mother encouraged.
"I'm stuffed," Mr. Sterling said.
"Yes, me, too," Mrs. Sterling agreed.
"Would you like a cigar?" my dad asked Mr. Sterling.
I hated when my dad smoked cigars-though he rarely did. It smelled good for about five seconds until I began wearing it on my clothes and hair. My mother despised it as much as I did, which is odd since they spent most of their college years smoking things with all sorts of bad smells. I shooed them out to the patio as my mom and Mrs. Sterling disappeared into the kitchen.
"They seem to be hitting it off," I said to Alexander.
"This really was nice for them; they needed to get out. I think they were feeling isolated in the Mansion. Maybe if they made more friends they wouldn't want to " Alexander trailed off.
"What?"
We heard a dish break in the kitchen.
"I am so sorry" my mom said,
"No- it was me," Mrs. Sterling said as we joined them in the kitchen. A china plate was broken on the floor. "We were talking aboutRomania and I just asked Sarah if she believed in vampires."
"I think it's time that we were going, Mom," Alexander said.
"What's all the commotion?" my dad asked as he came in.
"Nothing.A dish just slipped through my fingers," my mom explained, discarding the broken dinnerware into the trash.
"I'd like to pay for that," Mrs. Sterling offered.
"Yes, we'll buy you a new set," Mr. Sterling said. "We insist."
"Please, it's no trouble," my mom stated with a laugh.
"It gives me an excuse to go shopping."
"I had a wonderful time, Sarah," Mrs. Sterling said. "I hope we can see each other again."
"You don't have to leave yet." My mom's voice was sad, as if she was not ready for her party to end.
"Constantine, we must be going," Alexander's mother said. "Weve kept the Madisons up far too long"
"We stay up late, too," my mom tried to assure her.
They stay up until at least six,I wanted to say.
"We'll have to get together again. Next time at our | home," Mrs. Sterling stated.
My parents were thrilled.
"Then it's a date. This Saturday we'll have a cocktail party. Just the four of us" said Mrs. Sterling.
"You aren't inviting us?" Alexander asked. "I think we should be there, too."
"For cocktails? "Mrs. Sterling wondered.
"And Cokes," Alexander suggested.
"Well of course, darling.We'd never leave you out.
"What can we bring?" my mother asked.
Mrs.Sterling leaned in and said, "Your appetite."
17
The next night, Alexander and I met at his grandmother's monument in the cemetery.
"I think it went well," I said, rushing toward him.
He greeted me with a long kiss. "That was so nice of your parents to invite us. No one in town has reached out to them. It meant a lot."
"My parents really like you.And your family."
Alexander brushed my hair away from my face with his fingers. "But there are things you must know"
"Our dads gotalong " I said, dreaming.
"Constantine's really great. But he doesn't see me as a real artist. He thinks I'm just going through a phase."
"Why do you call him by his first name?"
"I just rarely see him. And when I do, he's always focused on his work.Dad never really fell off my tongue. Raven I have to tell you something. Why I didn't introduce you to them before It's why I've been distracted." Alexander paused, trying to find the right words.
"They like me, but they don't want me to become your grandmother-an outsider in her own family," I said.
Alexander nodded.
"I can imagine if my parents knew you were a vampire, they might have problems with it. I understand your parents might feel the same way about me being a mortal."
"Well, there is that "
"But we all get along. Like one big extended happy family. It's just funny. If my parents knew about your parents-and you for that matter "
"What do you think they'd do?" Alexander asked, pulling me toward him.
"Not let me meet you in a cemetery, on sacred ground. That's for sure."
Dullsville's cemetery was decorated for a wedding. I stood at its entrance wearing a strapless white wedding dress and long white fingerless gloves. My train was as long as a coffin. Chairs, filled with unfamiliar faces, lined the soggy grass.
Mr. and Mrs. Sterling were awaiting me underneath the wrought-iron arch. Becky was standing up there in a pink ill-fitting bridesmaid's dress. Jameson, in his chauffeur's uniform, was standing as a best man. The officiator was cloaked in a grim reaper outfit.
Alexander, beaming in a vintage tuxedo, was waiting for me.
My dad joined my side and held a tight grip on my elbow. For some reason, I felt resistant to go-just as I had as a kid when it came time for swimming lessons. T'he water was always too cold, and my suit was always still damp from the day before. My dad held on tightly. "It's time to swim," he said with a wink.
We walked through the cemetery between the tombstones as raindrops hit my veil.
I tried to find my mother. She was sitting in the front row with her back toward me. When I reached her row, I heard her mumble, "Why did you want to be like her when you could have been like me."
I was appalled by her comment, but my dad still guided me to the altar.
The grim reaper's face was hidden, but Alexander was gorgeous. He took my hand and squeezed it tightly. Becky lifted my veil. My handsome vampire leaned me back and grinned. His fangs flashed. For some reason I wasn't frightened. Two stabs gently pierced the soft flesh of my neck. I became dizzy.
I could smell blood-my own-as it dripped down my neck. It drizzled down the white dress and splattered like paint.
The guests began to clap and cheer in a contagious frenzy. They rose to their feet and smiled. All of them were vampires. Even my best friend, Becky, flashed tiny fangs at me. My father grinned and my mother sneered, both bearing pearly white fangs.
"The Sterlings have come to town!" the guests cheered.
I froze, staring at my parents. This isn't what they had wanted for me-much less for themselves. And it was now too late, for all of us.
I awoke to glares from my classmates. I must have dozed off in English class. Mrs. Naper was tapping her pointer on her desk. "That makes the third time this week, Raven. I'll have to talk to your parents about your sleeping habits."
Trevor glanced back from the front row. He gave me a sexy grin and shook his head. For the first time, I was happy to see him. It was less disturbing to see my nemesis as a nightmare of rny reality than to see my parents as vampires in a dream.
18
Afew hours before our cocktail party at the Sterlings ', I found my mom tossing dresses on her bed. She was as anxious as I had been when I was first invited to the Mansion.
"What do I wear?" she asked.
"Whatever you want."
Since my mother wasn't going to paint her nails black and wear a corset over the top of a camisole, I didn't think it really mattered what her attire was. However, she didn't feel the same.
"Should I wear this-or this?" she asked, holding up the same blouse, one in white, and one in red. "Mrs. Sterling is so stylish. Not that it's my style, but nevertheless it's bold. I don't want to offend her by appearing too conservative."
"Are you kidding?" All of a sudden my mother cared about what the neighbors thought?
I think she was as taken by Mrs. Sterling as I was- just for different reasons. I wanted to be like Cassandra, a beautiful royal-blooded vampiress with a gorgeous vampire family, residing in an eerie mansion. But to my mom, Cassandra was exotic, unique, and worldly. Different, like my mom had been in her pre-corporate days. "Mom, you are fine just the way you are." "You're only saying that because you want me to hurry up."
"No, I mean it. I don't think eyebrow piercings and spider tatts will go with your Donna Karan blouses."
"You're right. I'll just be me-plain old boring me," my mother said, folding her arms.
"You are far from boring."
"I guess I just wanted you to think your mom was cool."
"You're not supposed to be cool to me. You're my mom. Do you think Grandma is cool?"
"I see your point. I didn't do too bad a job raising you after all, did I?"
"Well, if you must know, you could raise my allowance."
It was a moment I was excited about and dreaded at the same time.My parents visiting the Mansion. What would they say? What would they do? How would they respond to bloodred smoothies?
My dad inched his SUV up the Mansion's drive. Fog hovered over the bushes and candles flickered inside the Mansion.
"It looks haunted," my mom mumbled to my father. "I know why you like coming here," she said to me. "It's very mysterious."
"I'm anxious to see what it looks like inside. I feel very privileged. Like Charlie getting a chance to see the inside of the chocolate factory," my dad said.